Bedknobs and Broomsticks - Part One
by Napoleon and Lafayette
Summary: Dark Magic is on the rise, and tensions have never been higher. The class of 1978 is moving into its 7th year at Hogwarts, and young witches and wizards must decide where their loyalties lie. New friendships and romances are blossoming despite the shadow of war, but will they be strong enough to last? Marauders/Present era, OC
1. Notorious Mass-Murderer Sirius Black

**Disclaimer: We do not own _Harry Potter_ in any way, shape or form.**

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**Late summer, 1993**

**_NOTORIOUS MASS-MURDERER ESCAPES AZKABAN_**

_Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge announced last night the escape of notorious mass-murderer Sirius Black from the once-thought impenetrable wizarding prison, Azkaban. "We aren't quite sure how Black managed to escape, but we've got the whole Department of Magical Law Enforcement working round the clock looking for him," a very flustered Fudge told a Prophet reporter early this morning._

_Sirius Black was arrested on October 31, 1981 - a night already famous throughout the wizarding world as the night that Harry Potter defeated the Dark Lord - for the murders of former schoolmate Peter Pettigrew as well as twelve Muggles nearby. Black was imprisoned without a trial as part of the strict measures put in place under the jurisdiction of then-Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Bartemius Crouch. The court issued Black a life sentence, and he remains one of the most infamous prisoners held ever in Azkaban and is the first to ever successfully escape._

_Black, though wandless, is considered to be highly dangerous. The Ministry has urged that the wizarding community remain alert and cautious so long as Black is at large._

The paper dropped to the floor next to the shattered remains of a cup of tea, the picture of a sullen, hollow-eyed man on the front page of the paper slowly darkening on a spreading stain of spilled tea.

The would-be drinker of this tea could have cared less about the state of her kitchen floor at this moment, as she had eyes only for the paper.

He was out. The only escape ever in history, and it had to be Sirius. Why was he out? A jolt ran through her. What if he was after them - the rest of them? She bolted to the window and looked out, as though expecting to see escaped notorious mass-murderer Sirius Black stalking towards her door with a vengeful gate.

But there was a figure stalking towards her door.

The woman just about had a heart attack, but quickly realized that this figure was no Sirius Black. He wore Ministry robes, and she just managed to catch sight of a rolled up piece of parchment in his hand as he disappeared from her line of sight. There was a knock at the door.

She waved her wand quickly and the paper and shattered teacup threw themselves back onto the table, the cup repairing itself and the tea straining from the newspaper and back into the cup, a tad inkier than it had been before. The woman quickly stowed her wand as she opened the door.

"Can I help yo-oh..." she broke off as she recognized the man at the door.

"Mariah Jaeger?" The Ministry official looked her over and smiled. "Yes, it's you. Might I come in?"

"Um..." stuttered the woman Mariah, but the official swept past her before she'd fully answered, and she let her words trail off, closing the door behind him.

"You're rather hard to find these days," noted the Ministry official, smoothing his roll of parchment on Mariah's kitchen table. "St. Mungo's has no address on record, though according to your file you've been employed there for the past thirteen years."

"I move often," said Mariah shortly. "Their owls always find me."

"Indeed," said the Ministry official. He took a seat and eyed the smudged newspaper on the table. "I see you've heard the news. Bit of a shock?"

"Of course it's a shock," muttered Mariah. The Ministry official looked over the parchment, and Mariah slowly sank into another chair as he spoke.

"As you may know, Sirius Black is the first wizard to successfully escape Azkaban and is now at large. The Ministry has taken precaution to interview anyone with well-known connections to Black in order to confirm that no communication has taken place, and that none are hiding said fugitive." He looked up. "Have you heard from Black or attempted to send Black any messages since his incarceration?"

"No," said Mariah.

"Have you seen him, or received requests for assistance?"

"No."

"Have you any idea where he could be hiding?"

Mariah could think of nowhere.

"Is there anyone from whom Black could have acquired a wand, or assistance?"

"No," said Mariah. She very well knew Remus's stance. They had not spoken in twelve years.

"Lastly," the Ministry official leaned forward, "was there any magic Black was capable of that might have helped him to escape?"

Mariah frowned. "He was capable of quite a lot. I don't know if you remember, but there are a good dozen people who died because of him," she said. "I'm sure he learned a few tricks from You-Know-Who, but I don't know why he wouldn't have used them til now..."

"I need you to sign this," said the Ministry official, spreading the scroll once more and conjuring up a quill. Mariah looked it over. "This is to state that everything you've said is true, and that you have no intention of assisting the fugitive in future."

"What happens if this is broken?" asked Mariah.

"You will be arrested and tried for perjury. Though not after several nasty, Ministry-approved jinxes have hit you," said the Ministry official.

"Do I have to sign it?" asked Mariah tentatively.

"I don't see why there would be any conflict if everything you have just told me is indeed true," the Ministry official smiled coldly. "But yes, I've been given orders to bring you in for more intensive questioning should you choose not to sign." Mariah sighed, and after some time took the quill and, pursing her lips, signed her name. The parchment snapped back into a scroll and the Ministry official took it, placing it into a pocket of his robes. "Very good. I will be sure to keep you informed if there are any developments." He got to his feet. So did Mariah.

"What is it exactly that you do now?" she asked, walking him to the door.

"I am the head of the Investigation Department," said the Ministry official. "We keep tabs on dark wizards. Make sure we keep up with every possible threat to the wizarding community."

"How ironic," muttered Mariah.

The Ministry official turned. "You just signed a truth-binding contract. If you so much as invite Sirius Black in for a cup of tea, I will know."

Something in Mariah's face changed suddenly. "Tell me, how many of those contracts are running around the wizarding world being personally distributed by the head of the Investigation Department?" she asked, crossing her arms. The Ministry official smirked.

"Just one." He regarded her scathing expression with some amusement. "You really have not changed a bit, Mariah," he said, reaching up and brushing her hair out of her face. He lingered there, and then turned on his heel, strode to the end of the walk, and Disapparated as the door slammed behind him.


	2. From the Desk of Pius Thicknesse

Joel Mansfield was eying the wild-eyed man leering at him from the front page of his father's newspaper over the rim of his morning glass of pumpkin juice. "Does this mean I won't be allowed to go to the marsh with Vincent and look for grindylows?" he asked. "With Sirius Black having escaped and all?"

"I should think not," his father said, lowering his newspaper to look at the boy. "Even if it weren't for Black having escaped, you know I don't like you hanging around with that Crabbe boy."

"I don't understand why not," Joel said, frowning as he picked up a piece of toast and began to pick away at the burned edges. "You don't like any of my friends."

"It's because they aren't Gryffindors," his sister chimed in. "Dad'd like them if they were in his House, wouldn't you, Dad?"

Geoffrey sighed heavily and leaned back in his chair, swirling the remnants of his morning tea around in the bottom of the cup. They'd had this same conversation a dozen times before. "I've told you before, Joel, it has nothing to do with what House your friends are in - your mother was a Slytherin when we were in school. It's their _families_. The Crabbes are no better than the Malfoys or the Rosiers. If the Department of Magical Law Enforcement had any concrete evidence, the lot of them would be thrown in Azkaban for supporting You-Know-Who before you could say Quidditch."

"But there _isn't_ any concrete evidence, Dad! My friends aren't running around and blowing up streets full of Muggles! What makes you think they're bad? Just because their _parents_-"

"That's _enough_, Joel. Now go upstairs and get dressed so we can make it to Diagon Alley before noon."

The look his son threw him as he stormed out of the kitchen was identical to dozens of looks his wife had given him years before. Joel had the same dark hair and haughty features as Emilie, but his brown eyes and thin lips were clearly his father's. Geoffrey's daughter, on the other hand, was an almost perfect replication of her father, from her red hair down to her scrawny legs.

"So what do you reckon Sirius Black is going to do?" the girl asked. "Think he knows what happened to You-Know-Who and is trying to find him or something?"

Geoffrey flipped the newspaper back over so that Sirius's face was leering up at them again. He looked so different from the Sirius he had known at school. "I don't know, Sarah," he said. "None of us even knew he was on You-Know-Who's side until he killed Peter. That he'd betray Lily and James like he did... wasn't like him at all. Wonder what made him do it..." He trailed off absently, shaking his head. After a moment, he became aware his daughter was still watching him closely and returned to the present. "If you want that new owl today, you'd better go get dressed, too," he said. "Go on."

Sarah gave a delighted squeal and bounded up from her chair and out the doorway, leaving her father alone in the kitchen.

Sirius Black's hollow eyes stared up at him from the _Daily Prophet_, his mouth twisted into a scowl beneath his curtains of wild, dark hair. He had done the impossible; he had escaped Azkaban.

There was a tap on the window. An owl with a letter in its beak sat on the sill, waiting patiently. For a fleeting moment as he stood and crossed to open the window, Geoffrey entertained the notion that if Sirius could escape, perhaps Emilie-

He let the thought go as he took the letter from the owl and the bird flapped away. No one escaped Azkaban. Sirius was an exception to the rule. And even if Emilie did escape - Geoffrey let his eyes wander back to the wild face on the front page of the _Prophet_ as he sat back down in his chair - would she be the same Emilie that had been arrested twelve years ago?

He lifted the heavy parchment flap of the envelope and unfolded the letter within.

_Dear Mr. Mansfield,_

_I am sure by this time that you have heard news of the recent escape of notorious mass-murderer Sirius Black from Azkaban Prison. As the spouse of a current inmate of the prison, your presence is requested at 10 o'clock in the morning on the sixteenth of August in the office of Amelia Bones, head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, for questioning pertaining to any information linked to_

There was a crash from upstairs and he heard Sarah yell something at her brother as two pairs of footsteps came thundering down the stairs.

"Dad, Joel was going through my things!"

"I was _not_! I saw Sheba crawl under her bed, and I was just trying-"

"_Enough_." Geoffrey waited for both of his children to fall silent. "Joel, get your crup out from under your sister's bed and take her outside. I told you I don't want her in the house. Sarah, you go back upstairs and finish getting ready. I want you both back down here and ready to go in ten minutes. Understand?"

His children nodded and hurried back upstairs, resuming their yelling as soon as they were out of the kitchen. Geoffrey shook his head, turning back to the letter.

_for questioning pertaining to any information linked to the recent breakout. Please arrive at the Ministry of Magic no later than half an hour before your scheduled time._

_Best wishes,_

_Pius Thicknesse_

_Department of Magical Law Enforcement_

_Ministry of Magic_

"Best wishes, my ass," Geoffrey muttered, lowering the letter. He looked up as more footsteps thundered overhead, turning his eyes to the doorway in time to see red sparks shooting from the end of his son's wand in pursuit of his sister. "That - is - _enough_!" he bellowed. He held out a hand imperiously. "I don't know what has gotten into the two of you today, but I will not have it. Give me your wand, Joel. You know you aren't allowed to perform magic outside of school until you're seventeen."

"I don't see why not," Joel said, turning over his wand and folding his arms across his chest in a sulk. "It's not like the Ministry's gonna know. They'll just think it's you that's done it!"

"Then explain to me why I'm holding a letter from the Ministry right at this very moment, giving you a warning for performing underage magic." He brandished the heavy yellow parchment of the letter in his hand.

Joel's doubt was etched plainly on his face as he skeptically eyed the letter his father held in his hand. He trailed his eyes to the kitchen table where the envelope was laying and saw the broken wax seal bearing the letters M.O.M., and his eyes widened. "Sorry, Dad. But Sarah-"

"I don't want to hear it. Now, let's go and get your school things. If there's any more trouble - from either of you - we'll come straight home and you'll be home schooled this year until you learn some respect. Do I make myself clear?"

His children both muttered affirmations and shuffled toward the fireplace, reaching for the pot of Floo Powder sitting on the mantel. Geoffrey pushed his ginger hair away from his forehead and took a calming breath before joining his children at the fireplace and tossing his own fistful of Floo Powder into the grate.


	3. In the Dark of the Night

**September, 1977**

With a particularly loud snore, the girl's hazel eyes snapped open and she looked around in alarm. The library had emptied and the lights had been doused so that everything lay in darkness. She ran a hand through her hair and looked down at the book she'd been reading, but could only see the tips of her fingers floating there.

"Dammit..." She'd fallen asleep in the Invisibility Section. Slowly, she pulled herself to her feet and groped along the shelves towards the entrance. The door was unlocked, and she let herself out as quietly as she could, wincing at the creaky old door.

She'd only just reached the marble staircase when a low hiss made her spin around in time to see a dusty-colored tail flit around the corner. Mrs. Norris. Panicked, she flitted up the stairs, hopping four at a time while still trying to make as little noise as possible.

A distant sound caught her attention and she glanced around before resuming her hurried tiptoe down the corridor. She was almost to the next corner when light suddenly flooded the floor right in front of her feet. At the same time, a hand clamped over her mouth and she was yanked backwards through a tapestry on the wall and held tight against the stone wall as the light shone through gaps in the weaving and Filch's scratching voice reached her ears.

"Slippery things they are, tracking mud and slime, _muck_, trooping around after hours like they own the place. Mark my words, Mrs. Norris, they'll have more than moonlit strolls on their mind when I'm done with 'em..." His voice was fading with the light, echoing now as though from far off. "...no doubt Potter and Black again… I'll get them yet..."

After a few minutes in which Filch's voice faded entirely into the distance, the hand dropped from the girl's mouth and she whirled around to see a tall figure drawing aside the tapestry to peer out into the hallway.

"Come on, move..." he muttered, pushing her through the tapestry.

She stepped out slowly, watching for the fading flickering light around the corner at the end of the hall. Once it was out of sight, she turned to face her companion. She recognized him as someone she had seen around, but rarely noticed. He was tall, with dark hair that needed a cut, and piercing amber eyes that were fixed on her with some bemusement. From what she could recall, his name started with an L… or was it V-something...

"I fell asleep in the Library. What are you doing out?" she asked quickly.

"I was hungry," the boy said, shrugging.

"Oh, well come on, we've got to get out of here before Filch comes back!" She started off for the corner, but turned back to see him looking back at the other end of the corridor. "Come on."

He turned back and followed her. Quickly and quietly, they made their way up to where the portrait of the Fat Lady hung on the wall, gently snoozing in her frame. The girl prodded her awake to tell her the password (Acid Pops), and was halfway through the portrait hole when she saw the tall boy hanging back.

"What are you doing? Get in!" she hissed.

"I can't, I'm not in Gryffindor," said the boy nonchalantly.

The girl paused, drawing a blank for a moment, her mouth open. "Oh... Right." Mariah could have kicked herself. Stupid. She had only meant to leave the scene, but without thinking, had automatically led the boy right back to the Gryffindor Common Room. Stupid, stupid, stupid...

"But… but… but you..." She frowned. "Why did you follow me?"

"You told me to," shrugged the boy, smiling. "And Filch went the way I'd intended to go, anyway."

"And you… you just let me lead you straight to the portrait hole?" exclaimed the girl.

The boy shrugged again. "You seemed very driven, I would've hated to interrupt" he said. "Besides, this detour has probably given Filch enough time to get to a whole other wing of the castle. Thank you for that. I suppose I'll be heading back now. It was very nice to meet you… Mariah, isn't it?" He paused, waiting for the girl's confirmation.

"Yeah," she said, still confused.

"Right," he said. "Well, goodnight!" He turned with a wave, starting off down the corridor once more and disappearing into the shadows

Mariah stood there dumbstruck a good thirty seconds longer before the Fat Lady barked for her to choose whether she wanted in or out before she made the decision for her.

The hole closed and she entered the Gryffindor common room, which was dark, but eerily adorned with shadows thrown by the lowly flickering flames that still lingered in the grate. Hushed voices caught her ear and she turned abruptly, reaching for the wand in her pocket.

"Who's there?"

Two black-haired heads rose from behind a squashy red velvet couch that faced the far window, and she relaxed slightly, though still not releasing the wand. The boys rose to their feet, both looking at her.

"Mariah? Why're you back so late, eh?"

"I wouldn't have taken you for the type to sneak around after dark. That is, if you weren't teaching the gargoyles at the top of the tower to dance again."

"I fell asleep in the library," said Mariah, turning and walking towards the staircase to the Girls' Dormitories. "Heard Filch talking about you two on the way up though. Potter and Black've done it again."

"Oh, was it about the frog brains in Flitwick's class?" asked Sirius Black, crossing his arms and leaning over the back of the couch.

"No, it was more of a general comment," said Mariah, yawning. "You know, the ones he mutters under his breath."

"Those are the ones that tell us that deep down inside, he really does love us," said James Potter, grinning at Sirius.

"Like his own sons," the latter remarked in a simpering voice.

Mariah looked from one to the other. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Killing time until the sun comes up," replied James.

Mariah blinked, but felt too sleepy to care. With a last "goodnight" she walked back up to her dormitory where the sign on the door read "Seventh Years." She fell onto her four-poster bed fully clothed, kicking off her shoes and pressing her face into the pillow as sleep began to take hold.


	4. Gryffindor and Slytherin

"I don't see why you can't just get your mail delivered to the Great Hall like everyone else," Sirius said, yanking the folded piece of parchment from Geoffrey Mansfield's hand, ignoring his fellow Gryffindor's protests as the seventh years made their way through the common room. "Makes those of us who don't have caring families jealous and all."

"Like you care, Padfoot," James said, yawning and stretching his arms above his head before snatching the morning edition of the _Daily Prophet_ out of Geoffrey's other hand. "Besides, with Geoff's parents sending his mail up to the Tower, we get first dibs on the morning news. We never have to worry about being behind the times."

"Sirius, give me my letter-"

"Would you listen to this rubbish? '_Quodpot and Quidditch don't mix as easily as one might expect, both of them being played on brooms and all. Exploding Quaffles, I ask you! What will the Americans think of next?_' If your mum's going to write to you, can't she at least say something worth reading?" Sirius scoffed and handed the parchment back to the redheaded boy. "Doesn't your dad do something for the Ministry? Can't they put some gossip about Death Eaters into their letters or something?"

"I told you already," Geoffrey said as they climbed through the portrait hole, "my parents don't know anything. Even if they did, d'you think they'd put it in a letter? Dad works for the Department of Regulation-"

"And Control of Magical Creatures, yeah, yeah, we _know_. I just want some _news_ for once."

Thanks to the many neuroses of Geoffrey Mansfield's beloved tawny owl, the bird had refused to deliver his mail to the Great Hall for the past four years, instead bringing it to the boys' dormitory every morning before breakfast. This same argument about news had taken place nearly every morning since the first whispers of a war had arisen, and always ended with the same result: Sirius and Geoff both rather put-out with the other, and Remus exasperated with the both of them, James content to scour the _Daily Prophet_ for any new rumors.

By the time they reached the Great Hall, James and Remus had their heads buried in the newspaper and Sirius was just warming up his morning tirade against all things Slytherin. The hall was already crowded with other students sitting at the long tables, halfway through their breakfasts.

"-and look at Snivellus over there, cozying up with Rosier and Avery. Too bad he didn't bite it when-_yeeowch_!" Sirius jerked away from James, glaring at his friend for stamping on his foot to interrupt him. "I'm just _saying_, if _somebody_ hadn't decided to be all noble and let him in on someone's _secret_..."

As James and Sirius fell to bickering with each other, Geoff glanced over at the Slytherin table. Severus Snape was indeed sitting with Evan Rosier and his goons Avery and Mulciber. The dark-haired girl that had been holding Rosier's hand abruptly picked up her books and stood from the table. Geoff had the fleeting thought that she was walking toward him and the Marauders, and a moment of panic swept over him.

He had met Emilie Delacroix on the train ride to Hogwarts their first year. Sirius and James had been riding in the same compartment, and the former had taken an instant dislike to girl. Geoff thought this was exceedingly unfair to her, but before the witch with the trolley had even come down the corridor with her cart full of sweets, Emilie had become so fed up that she had left to find somewhere else to sit.

She hadn't liked any of them after that, especially once they had all been Sorted and she had ended up in Slytherin House, but it was when James and Sirius began their near constant torture of Snape that her general dislike of the Marauders had seemed to shift into actual loathing. As the years went on, the Marauders' methods of torment, and in turn the Slytherins' retaliatory measures, became more and more severe. Geoff had learned first-hand that Emilie had quite a knack for hexes and curses.

As it was, the Slytherin girl made no attempt to even look at the Gryffindor boys as she passed, her eyes raised to stare haughtily up at some indistinct spot on the wall, her lips pressed into a thin line, clearly put out about something or other.

"Look - there's Mariah," Sirius said, apparently having failed to notice Geoff's momentary distress. "C'mon, let's go see what good old jiggery Jaeger is up to today." And he led the group toward the Gryffindor table, dropping himself into a seat across from Mariah.

Mariah blinked blearily at her eggs at the long Gryffindor table, hovering somewhere between sleep and waking. She'd awoken several times after she'd returned due to disturbing dreams, and now felt as though she had not slept at all. She didn't even notice her hand was still closed around a goblet of orange juice until a large tawny owl dropped suddenly from the air onto her plate and she jumped violently, splashing the contents all over Remus.

"Oh! Sorry!"

"It's fine," he said, pulling out his wand and pointing it at himself, drying out his dripping robes. Mariah started to excuse herself further, but the large owl was now clawing at her plate impatiently to get her attention, and she hastily dropped five knuts into the little sack tied to its leg. Once it had flown off, she pushed her plate aside and opened up the paper it had delivered. Remus looked over her shoulder as she glanced around the front page. She looked at him.

"Here, you can have it. It's all about those Death Eaters terrorizing Muggles again." She handed it over and grabbed a piece of toast from the middle of the table, smearing it with butter. As she took a bite, she noticed Remus wasn't eating, nor had he touched the paper. His eyes were unfocused and distant, staring blankly at a goblet of pumpkin juice.

"You alright?" she asked.

"Oh, I haven't been feeling well," he said, glancing at her.

"He was sick as a dog last night, you should've seen him," said Sirius, dropping into the seat across from them, James at his side. Peter Pettigrew, settled in beside Remus, immediately helping himself to eggs and bacon. "How was sleeping in the library? Academically enriching?"

Mariah turned back to her toast, ignoring the question. If Black and Potter's gang found out she'd unwittingly led back a student from another house almost into the Gryffindor common room, she'd never hear the end of it, and neither would anyone else.

"I thought Madame Pince checks the library before she leaves it," said James.

Mariah swallowed her bite of toast before answering. "Not the Invisibility Section apparently," she said.

"How'd you fall asleep in there?" asked Remus.

"I was reading a book," said Mariah.

"In the Invisibility Section?" snorted Sirius.

Mariah hesitated. "It wasn't invisible when I started reading it, but when I woke up I could only see my fingers," she said, getting to her feet. "Think I'll head to class early. Maybe I can get a bit more sleep..."

She looked around for her bag. It wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"Oh no I must've left it in the library..." she groaned, running a hand through her hair and hurrying out into the hall.

The library was empty when she arrived, save for Madame Pince and a few frazzled students bent double over wooden tables with their noses pressed against long strips of parchment, hands scribbling wildly, and a few drifters sidling along through the aisles. Mariah made her way past stacks of books to the Invisibility Section, stifling a gasp as she saw her body disappear below her upon entering. The sensation of becoming invisible was one she felt she would never get used to. She dropped to her knees and began feeling around for her bag.

"What's it called again?"

"_Hellion Hexes_ by Gamin Norwalk. Says it's on the floor somewhere in this section."

Mariah glanced up, and felt her stomach flip as her eyes met the gaze of Rodolphus Lestrange. She looked down quickly, but her hands were still invisible. Looking back up, she saw Rodolphus's eyes wandering the rest of the floor. He looked to his companion.

"How are we supposed to find it here?" Another figure stepped into view, and Mariah recognized him as Sirius's brother, Regulus Black. His eyes met hers, and she felt herself tense again, though she knew he couldn't see her.

"Start feeling around for it, I suppose," he said, sighing. "He could've made it a bit easier for us."

"Ah well, it's Avery."

Mariah suddenly recognized their intentions as they stepped forward and vanished, and frantically felt along the carpeted floor for her bag. She felt the strap brush her finger and quickly grabbed it, tugging it out of the Slytherins' reach.

Slytherins and Gryffindors were tense rivals, this was true, but Mariah herself had only been a victim of the enmity a few times. However, in the growing state of chaos in the world, she had come to know not a few Muggle-borns and half-bloods at Hogwarts who had been victimized by the Slytherins when caught on their own. And Sirius's common rants against his family and other pureblood supporters often included the Lestranges in particular, among other families. Being caught alone in an invisible section of a library by two at once was definitely a recipe for trouble.

She slowly stood as the mutterings of the Slytherins moved her way and began to walk away, but her foot hit something solid and she stumbled, dropping to her knees. She felt around and her fingers touched the shape of a heavy book lying on the floor.

"Watch it, Black," said Rodolphus gruffly.

"Watch yourself," grumbled Regulus. Mariah quickly picked the book up and got to her feet once more, hurrying to the end of the aisle.

She stopped at the invisibility barrier and glanced back at the bare floor. If she just materialized out of nowhere, the Slytherins would be sure to notice. She looked at the bookcase, but there was nothing to topple for a distraction. A scuffling by her foot told her that one of the Slytherins was inches from reaching her. Mariah glanced around the corner. She could run for it...

"What's taking you? We have to get to Transfiguration," said a voice at the other end of the aisle, and Mariah glanced back. The familiar face made her stomach drop. It was the tall boy from the night before.

"Avery threw the book in the Invisibility Section, Kurt… meaning that it's _invisible_ now," said an obviously pissed-off Rodolphus from somewhere around Mariah's knee. She jumped, and looked at the dark-haired boy, Kurt. His eyes were looking somewhere around her middle, probably through her to the next aisle, or where he suspected the other two to be.

"We'll find it later. No one ever uses this section. Come on, you know McGonagall is feeling smug after yesterday. Don't give her the satisfaction."

"Fine, fine," said Rodolphus. There was a rustling of robes and retreating steps, and the two Slytherins materialized by their fellow at the other end of the aisle, following him around the corner and out of sight. Mariah waited a minute, and then stepped out the opposite way, winding through the maze of aisles until she reached the door of the library, exiting into the hallway and breaking into a sprint towards the Transfiguration room, the book safely stashed in her bag and out of sight.


	5. Trials and Transfigurations

Mariah's hopes of fitting in a quick nap before class were squashed when the bell sounded for classes to begin while she was still a few corridors away. She ran tardy into a full classroom just as Professor McGonagall was finishing her notes on the chalkboard.

"Miss Jaeger, how nice of you to join us," said McGonagall crossly, her lips thinning.

"Sorry, Professor..." said Mariah distractedly, edging past a few students to an empty seat.

"Where've you been?" hissed the red-headed girl in the seat next to her.

"I lost my bag," replied Mariah softly, glancing around the room. The boy Kurt sat at the back of the room alongside both Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange. Why hadn't she noticed him before? Her thought process was interrupted as McGonagall began assigning partners.

Double Transfiguration with the Slytherins was never a happy affair. There was too much rivalry between the houses for that. Now that they were covering human Transfiguration, Professor McGonagall had them divide into pairs almost every class and take turns turning each other into different sorts of animals. Due to the uneven number of students from each house, one unfortunate Gryffindor would be paired with an equally unfortunate Slytherin. Already there had been several trips to the Hospital Wing because of this.

Everyone waited with baited breath then, as Professor McGonagall turned to assign the unlucky couple.

"Let's see… yes, Mansfield, you and… Miss Delacroix, I think. Yes, now, _do_ try and stay civil for one class period."

Everyone looked from the nervous-looking Gryffindor to the haughty Slytherin girl and counted their blessings, splitting up into pairs. Mariah and Lily moved closer to the wall away from where Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin were paired. No one really trusted Peter's spellwork. He had his good days and bad days, though the latter usually outnumbered the former, and nobody wanted to be a casualty.

Mariah went first, and managed to successfully turn her friend into a small, peach-colored rabbit. She glanced around after untransfiguring her again.

"Lily, who's that?" she asked, nodding in the direction of a Slytherin pair in the corner. "I know that's Avery, but who's-"

"Kurt Lovell," replied her newly-human partner. "He's usually with the Lestrange brothers."

"Ah… does he share their pureblood fixation, then?" asked Mariah. Though few supporters made themselves known at Hogwarts, a select group of Slytherins was very vocal about it.

"No idea," said Lily, feeling her ears to make sure they'd gone back to normal. "Probably though. He's a pureblood, and I think the Lestranges are his cousins. He's definitely in that group of Slytherins though…_ Lapifors_!"

Mariah had no time to reply. She suddenly found herself at eye-level with the floor, very furry, and oddly hungry for raw vegetables and grain…

Meanwhile, Geoffrey Mansfield was gritting his teeth as he forced himself to stand, his wand clutched in one fist. He turned to see his partner crossing the room toward him and could see that her expression was just as dark as it had been that morning, her lips still pressed tightly together with the slightest trace of a frown hanging on them. As she whipped her own wand out from her robes and raised it before her, Geoff had the distinct impression he was entering into a wizards' duel, not preparing to rehearse a simple transfiguration spell in class.

"Well?" she snapped. "Are you going to make me stand here all day?"

The Gryffindor raised his own wand, but before he could so much as open his mouth, Emilie had muttered _lapifors_ under her breath. His wand clattered to the floor, and a miserable-looking rabbit was suddenly in his place. With a careless wave of the Slytherin's wand, Geoff reverted back to his gangly, ginger self. His elbow connected with the desktop as he grew back to his proper size, and a jolt of pain shot up his arm.

For a moment after reclaiming his wand, he stood there trying to massage away the pain in his arm. He glared over at his partner, but she wasn't paying him any mind, her attention focused across the room where Evan Rosier was shrinking down into a rabbit in front of Severus Snape. Deciding to take advantage of her momentary distraction, he raised his wand-

"_Lapifors_."

His wand clattered to the floor again as he once more found himself staring up at her. He waited several long moments for her to cast the counterspell, but her attention was still focused on the other Slytherins. Agitated, he lunged forward to sink his teeth into her calf. Another offhand wave of Emilie's wand left his redheaded self on hands and knees at her feet.

"Glad to see the dunglicker knows his place," Mulciber chuckled from nearby.

The Slytherin boy's voice brought Emilie's attention back to the situation at hand and she looked down at Geoff. "Enjoying the view, Mansfield?" she asked.

He grabbed his wand and scrambled to his feet, stuttering. For the briefest of moments, he saw her expression clear, and he could have sworn she was fighting back a smile. He thrust out his wand and shouted "_LAPIFORS!_" With an indignant squeak, Emilie shrank down into a rabbit.

Meanwhile, across the room, James and Sirius were snickering behind their hands. Sirius managed a straight face for a moment. "Okay - okay, Prongs, seriously, back to business." He gave a sort of snort as he fought back a laugh. He cleared his throat and regained his composure with some difficulty. "Now, what's the spell again?" he asked, his voice laced with mock innocence. "_Langlock?_"

He waved his wand in James's direction but intentionally missed, the spell passing by his friend and hitting Snape in the back, cutting the Slytherin off mid-incantation as his tongue was suddenly, magically glued to the roof of his mouth.

"No, no, no, Padfoot, that's the one that makes your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth," James said, forcing back a bout of laughter while attempting to give his friend a disapproving look. "It's _lapif_ - " Before James could finish the incantation, there was a flash of light completely unrelated to rabbit-transformations, and he was hauled up into the air by his ankles, his glasses clattering to the floor. He managed to turn himself in midair to see an incensed Severus glaring at him, still unable to speak.

Sirius began to laugh at the initial look of utter surprise on James's face, but with another flash of light found himself in the air right alongside him.

McGonagall hurried across the room to see what all the commotion was about with James, Sirius, and Severus. A duel had broken out between Geoff and his partner when he had jinxed her in retaliation for a hex that had hit him squarely in the nose. (The hex had, in fact, come from Avery, who had taken advantage of McGonagall's temporary preoccupation with James and Sirius.)

Peter, watching both conflicts warily, shrieked as Remus's transfiguration spell hit him and he hit the floor as a rabbit, his wand rolling away under a desk. A few of the pairs - namely the ones with prefects in them - dutifully continued practicing the spell, occasionally shooting anxious looks at one of the two sets of duelists, the other, or both, obviously paranoid about being hit by a wayward jinx, but many of the pairs had blatantly forgotten about their practice and had stopped to watch the chaos unfolding in the classroom.

Mariah and Lily were of the few still attempting to practice, though heavily distracted by the shouting and wayward jets of light that were ricocheting off the walls. Neither were watching the other then when both absently raised their wands and directed them at each other, simultaneously muttering, "_Lapifors_." The lights from each of their wands shot past each other and met their marks, throwing both of them off their feet. They hit the floor as rabbits and quickly scuttled for their wands as Avery staggered back, Remus hanging off of his neck. In the corner, Peter cowered as Rosier advanced on him. However, before he had raised his wand, he was hit from behind by a jet of light and shrank down into a brown rabbit that hurriedly hopped away, its wand in its teeth.

Lily and Mariah sprouted back into humans with a small 'pop' as Professor McGonagall swept past to dispel the fighting. Peter had reappeared in his original form, curled up as though he had been kicked in the stomach. Lily quickly stepped out of the crowd of onlookers and helped him to his feet wordlessly while Professor McGonagall managed to free both Sirius and James of their curses and they dropped to the floor in a heap. She stepped between the two and Snape, who was chewing his tongue, face livid with fury. She strode quickly across the room to where Emilie and Geoffrey lay, both temporarily disabled by their afflicting hexes. She moved her hard gaze from one to the other.

"Delacroix! Mansfield! Hospital Wing! And then come _straight back here_!" She watched them through the door, then turned her piercing glare on the sprawled boys. "Potter, Black, Snape! I want you to remain here after class to discuss your detentions!"

"Detention, Professor!?" exclaimed James.

"And thirty points will be deducted for each of you! I've never seen such an abominable display of unruliness!"

"But Professor-"

"No buts, Black! And I advise you to keep quiet before I'm forced to deduct any more points! After Mansfield and Delacroix return, I'm sure it will amount to quite a hefty sum as it is!"

The bell rang and the rest of the class rushed for their things, filing out as quickly as possible to escape McGonagall's furious glare. Lily and Mariah both grabbed their bags and followed the rest of the class out, Mariah throwing one last glance over her shoulder at the rueful boys now standing before McGonagall's desk as she settled herself behind it and took out a quill.

"I can't believe them," huffed Lily, frowning. "That's the fifth class there's been a fight in. I heard the fourth years had a nice battle in double Herbology with a bunch of bubotubers. Apparently a Slytherin, that Crouch boy, mocked Davey Gudgeon and they started a scuffle. Both are up in the Hospital Wing now with some others."

Mariah shuddered. They'd experienced bubotubers already, and the sluglike creatures were not hard to forget. Especially after Mariah and a Ravenclaw had spilt their container of pus on the way up to Professor Sprout's table and sustained painful, heavily blistered hands and wrists that had not healed for over a week.

"It's all this Death Eater activity that's got them riled up, I bet," continued Lily. "I hope the Ministry is doing something about them. Things are starting to get out of control."

"Doesn't that Snape-" started Mariah, but a sharp look from Lily made her quickly change tracks. "I wonder how young Death Eaters can be. What if there are some here? At Hogwarts?"

"I'm sure they only recruit trained wizards," said Lily, frowning. They fell into a silence as they rounded the corner and joined the traffic of the hallway. Mariah looked around and spotted Kurt Lovell leaning up against a stone archway, talking to Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange. The brothers turned to each other and spoke for a moment, and in that moment, Lovell flicked his eyes to the side and his gaze connected directly with Mariah's.

She saw him smile and raise his eyebrows, but then he lifted a hand and waved amiably, as though they knew each other well. Mariah found this so surprising that she did not see the archway they were passing through and, consequentially, smacked hard into the wall instead of passing through. Backing up and rubbing the side of her face, she looked back to Lovell only to see that he was laughing while the Lestranges looked around curiously.

"Are you alright?" asked Lily.

"Yeah, let's go," said Mariah under her breath, feeling her face turn red as they continued down the hall.

For Geoff and Emilie, the walk to the infirmary was a quiet one. Emilie was pinching a bloody nose and eying the boils on her arms and the tentacles sprouting from her head warily, limping along on a sprained ankle. The Gryffindor beside her had been half-transfigured into a bird, and was awkwardly making his way on two over-sized talons instead of his own feet. A bruise was purpling steadily on his left cheek, and his busted lower lip, which he was feeling gingerly with the two remaining fingers on his left hand, was bleeding.

Their time in the hospital wing was brief; Madam Pomfrey had the two of them fixed up in less than twenty minutes (except for Geoffrey's missing fingers, which she assured him would be back by morning) and sent them back to class with a disapproving frown. They returned to McGonagall's classroom and hesitated outside the door, both eager to postpone their inevitable punishments.

"So, Mansfield, that was a decent Furnunculus Curse earlier," Emilie said.

"Go to hell, Delacroix."

She glanced sideways at him. His statement hadn't been particularly vicious, but it had sounded sincere in a tired sort of way. "Just trying to be friendly," she said. She looked away, back at McGonagall's door, but not before she saw his hands ball into what she assumed were meant to be fists.

Before the silence between them became any more strained, Geoffrey hooked the remaining fingers of his right hand around the door handle and yanked it open, stepping aside to allow the Slytherin to enter the room first.

McGonagall was seated at her desk, grading papers; her lips were thin and her nostrils were flaring. The other boys had already left for their next class. Without looking up at them, she grabbed her wand, gave it a wave, and conjured two straight-backed, wooden chairs from nowhere. "Sit," she said, and they did so.

After a moment, she set down her quill, laced her fingers together and let her hands rest on her desk, giving them a stern look. "Well," she said, "what do the two of you have to say for yourselves?"

There was a moment's pause, and then the two students erupted into shouting.

"She attacked me - "

"He tried to jinx me - "

" - and then she hit me with this wicked - "

" - jelly-legs - "

" - but then it didn't work all the way - "

" - tentacles - "

" - started bleeding - "

" - nearly broke my nose - "

McGonagall held up a hand for silence, and the two cut off abruptly. "Mansfield, may I ask how old you are?"

"Turned eighteen a week ago, professor."

"And you, Delacroix?"

"Eighteen in January."

"I think I hardly need to tell the two of you that you are behaving like_ infants_. I realize tensions are high at the moment, but I _will not_ put up with any more of these sorts of shenanigans in my class. Now," McGonagall paused for a moment, leaning back in her chair and regarding them through narrowed eyes as though deciding which punishment would best befit their lack of discipline. "I trust this will be the only time I have to speak to the two of you about this?"

They both mumbled an affirmative response.

"Good." She paused again for a moment. "Thirty points from each of you for sending the class into utter chaos - "

"But Potter and Black jinxed Snape, they disrupted - "

" - another ten points for interrupting me, Delacroix." McGonagall waited until Emilie had closed her mouth and slouched in her chair, arms folded across her chest. "And the two of you will be receiving detentions. You will join Mister Filch and assist him in polishing the trophies in the trophy room this Saturday night," she finished. "And if I _ever_ hear a word about _either_ of you ever engaging in such ludicrous antics again, rest assured that you will be back on the train home before you can say 'Quidditch.' Have I made myself perfectly clear?"

Both students muttered some sort of indistinct, affirmative response.

"Now, the two of you may proceed to your next class - Herbology, I believe, for you, Mansfield? And Potions, Delacroix? Tell Professors Sprout and Slughorn that I am sorry I kept you late; I'm sure they will understand." She waved them off, and once they had left in a sullen silence, she turned back to her stack of essays.


	6. Hellion Hexes

"What is McGonagall _thinking_!?" seethed James back in the common room that evening. He and the rest of his pals were seated around a fire, Lily and Mariah with them, practicing nonverbal charms on a teakettle. "That just about got rid of all the extra points we won in the last Quidditch match! She's mad, I swear! I mean you saw it, the Slytherins were causing just as much chaos as we were!"

"Yes, but the Slytherins didn't start the fight," said Lily, raising an eyebrow at James. "As I recall it was _you_ who started lifting people into the air by their ankles."

"Technically it was me," interjected Sirius from where he sat draped across an armchair. "But that ole slimeball deserved it. Come to think of it, they all do."

"Oh, that reminds me, I saw something funny in the Invisibility Section when I went back for my bag," said Mariah casually, flicking her wand and causing the teakettle to start spouting ribbons everywhere.

"Only you would see something in the Invisibility Section," muttered Sirius.

"No, no," said Mariah impatiently, frowning, "I mean there were Slytherins hunting around for an old charms book Avery had stashed away there for them. Your brother and Rodolphus Lestrange. And then that… Kurt something showed up before they could find it."

"Lovell," filled in Sirius, folding his arms back under his head to prop it up. "Did they say what book it was?"

"Well I mean I've got it," said Mariah, reaching for her bag and shuffling around through it until she found the book and pulled it out. "_Hellion Hexes_..." she read.

James and Sirius exchanged identical grins. Mariah glanced from one to the other.

"What?"

"Oh we're familiar with that one. That's not a Dark Arts book," said James.

"Have you looked in it?" asked Sirius eagerly. Mariah furrowed her brow and looked back at the book warily.

"No, what's wrong with it?" She stopped as James and Sirius started snickering harder than ever. Lupin coughed once, looking as though he were trying to hold back laughing as well.

"You wouldn't have heard of it, but it's a… well, a textbook that's been passed around the school… or at least the male students, for years."

Mariah still looked puzzled, waiting for further explanation, but Remus didn't offer any. He kept looking at her expectantly. Frowning, Mariah opened the book.

"Ugh!" she exclaimed in disgust, closing it again quickly and tossing it away. Sirius stretched to pick it up.

"Hey, now, don't be rude. This is like an ancient school artifact passed down through the generations! Like an heirloom." He sat back and opened the book, flipping through. "Oh Valentina!" he exclaimed suddenly in recognition. "I remember you..."

"Well I guess it wasn't anything then," said Lily, patting Mariah lightly on the back as the girl put a hand to her face.

"I can't believe that was in my _bag_," she wailed.

Sirius laughed. "Hey, look on the bright side, the Slytherins don't have it now! Thanks to you, we have successfully deprived the Voldemort supporters of their nightlight entertainment!" He flashed her an evil grin from around the edge of the book. "Really, thank you."

"Is Tabitha still in there?" asked James, laughing.

Sirius flipped through. "Hah! Yeah, she is! I'd forgotten how great this was..."

"Let me see," said James, but Lily snatched the book from Sirius's hand before he could grab it.

"I think we'll hold onto this until we can get it back to the Invisibility Section where it belongs," she said loftily, standing. Mariah followed her up the girl's staircase, leaving the boys to their new distraction of charming the teakettle to spout fireworks that sailed through the entire common room.

"Why do you think the Slytherins wanted it?" asked Mariah, following Lily up the hallway to the girls' dormitory labeled _Seventh Years_.

Lily shrugged, opening the book and flipping through a few pages briefly before shoving it under her bed. "Probably the same reason any boy would want it," she said. "Let's just hope James and Sirius don't start an inter-house war over it."

"Wouldn't put it past them," said Mariah, sighing.


	7. Halloween, 1993

**Halloween, 1993**

"Did you see the look on Potter's face? Thought he could just walk right out of the castle. Glad to see McGonagall put a stop to that! At least someone's got some sense around here. If they'd let him come to Hogsmeade without a permission slip - well, my father wouldn't be too pleased to hear about_ that_."

Crabbe and Goyle chuckled appreciatively at what Malfoy was saying and Joel smirked over the rim of his mug before taking a long swig of their butterbeers. The four of them fell silent and eyed Geoffrey as he passed their table, carrying a bottle of firewhiskey and two glasses.

Geoffrey could have sworn he heard the Malfoy boy mutter something about how Mudbloods shouldn't be allowed to teach at the school, and he allowed himself a resigned sigh. Malfoy and his cronies were so like how Rosier and his friends had been back in their days at Hogwarts. He settled into a booth across from Remus, whose face was looking particularly pale today. Geoff set the glasses on the table and poured a measure of firewhiskey into each.

"Cheers," he said, raising his glass as Remus did likewise. He tossed back the fiery liquor in a single gulp and poured two more glasses. "Severus doesn't seem overly thrilled to see the two of us back this year."

"He wouldn't be, would he? We were set on making his life a living hell while we were at school. He's doing me a great kindness, though, despite that, though his quarrel was never with me. It was James and Sirius that were always the trouble-makers. They just sort of dragged us along, didn't they?"

"Mmm. And poor Lily. She'd have fits whenever James would do something to Severus. I think he forgot they were friends at one time."

"I think he _wanted_ to forget." Remus poured himself another glass of firewhiskey. "Lily would never let him. She was always standing up for Severus. You know, the Weasley girl reminds me of her a bit. She hexed a boy for not holding the door open for her as she was leaving my class the other day. Had to take a few points for it to be fair, of course, but it was the best Bat-Bogey Hex I'd ever seen."

Geoff laughed appreciatively. "Yes, I can see why she reminds you of Lily. I can just picture Lily doing that to James. It's strange, being back, isn't it? I feel like I'm a student all over again."

Remus shrugged. "It's different this time around, not having James and the others. I wonder what they'd say, if they saw us teaching."

"They probably wouldn't be surprised at you being here. They'd probably laugh at the idea of me teaching. They never thought I was much good at anything. No one did."

"Emilie did."

"Emilie did," Geoff agreed. He looked pensively into his glass of firewhiskey, his expression suddenly clouded.

Remus eyed him for a long moment, searching for the words to say. "Do you ever... hear from her?" he asked.

Geoff looked up at Remus, then back down at his glass. He knew what his friend meant to ask: had she perhaps written anything about Sirius's escape? "No," he said. "There were owls for a while, right after they took her. But those stopped after a year or so. She's still doing all right, though, from what they told me this summer."

"This summer?"

He nodded, swallowing another mouthful of firewhiskey. He was suddenly very aware of how much the liquor burned his throat as it went down. "They called me in for questioning," he explained. "They wondered, since she's in there, if I knew anything about the... the incident. I don't," he added hastily when he saw Remus raise his eyebrows. "They just wanted to know if maybe she had written me telling me about any plans. I had to tell them I hadn't heard from her in ten years and that I doubted she still had the capacity to do what Black did. They told me that she's doing better than most would at this point, but I don't know what that means. I thought of writing to her, but what would I say? 'Hello, dear, you don't have any plans to break out of prison any time soon, do you? Because that would be a very bad thing for all of us.'" He rolled his eyes and finished his glass.

They sat in silence for a while, sipping at their glasses of firewhiskey. A loud ruckus from Malfoy's table caused a brief disturbance among several other groups of students hanging about, but it soon died down as the students gradually trickled out of the tavern and back toward the school.

"How do you think he did it, Remus?"

The werewolf was jerked out of his thoughts by the sudden question and looked sharply across at Geoff. "Did what?"

"How do you think Sirius got out? Maybe if he could do it, then Emilie-"

"_No_, Geoff. Face it, Emilie isn't coming home. They're going to have Azkaban locked up tighter than a Blast-Ended Skrewt's shell after that breakout. It was already supposed to be impossible to escape. And even if she did escape, what then? What would you do? Ministry officials would come after you first. You'd be running for the rest of your life. I don't know how Black got out, but he isn't the boy we were at school with. He murdered a dozen innocent people in the middle of a Muggle street, and Peter along with them. What kind of man does that?"

"Remus, this is Sirius we're talking about, not some crazed psychopath-"

"_Thirteen people_, Geoff, he killed_ thirteen_ people. He betrayed James and Lily. All they found of Peter was his_ finger_. I know you want to believe he's still the boy we knew fifteen years ago, but he isn't. We were wrong about him. And maybe you were wrong about Emilie, too."

Geoff looked at Remus over the rim of his glass and narrowed his eyes.

"I know you don't want to believe that she wasn't the woman you thought she was, but she was a Death Eater. Maybe James was right when he said she couldn't be trusted. Maybe it's best that she's in Azkaban."

"She's my wife, Remus. How can you sit there and say that to me? Who are _you_ to judge anyone for what they are?" He set his glass down on the table perhaps a bit harder than necessary and stood. "I'll see you around, Remus." He staggered a bit to one side as he made his way from the Three Broomsticks.

Remus glanced up as Rosmerta came to the table to clean away the empty glasses and bottles. "That Geoffrey Mansfield. Never could hold his liquor well, could he? I suppose you can't blame him, though. The breakout's got us all on edge, hasn't it?" she asked. "I tell you, I keep expecting Black to appear through that door at any minute and blow us all to pieces, just like he did to all those Muggles."

"Well, let's hope he doesn't," Remus said. He pressed a Sickle into her palm for a tip and then made his own exit into the blustery October evening.

It was getting dark by the time Mariah reached the castle. She exited the platform at Hogsmeade and trudged after a line of students back up towards the school. Judging by the handfuls of shopping all of them seemed to be holding, they'd just had their first Hogsmeade adventure of the year. She eyed a few Honeydukes bags enviously. Passing the line of dementors surrounding the grounds had not been easy. She still felt a bit nauseous.

Professor McGonagall was waiting for her when she reached the Entrance Hall. Mariah smiled at her, and was met with a twitch of McGonagall's thin lips.

"Welcome back, Miss Jaeger," she said. "Professor Dumbledore will want to speak with you later on, but for now, I am to take you to your lodgings." They started towards the Hospital Wing. "You will be rooming in the same ward as Madame Pomfrey, just off the Hospital Wing. If a patient is brought in in the middle of the night, a bell will ring to wake you. You can discuss your hours with Madame Pomfrey, and Dumbledore will discuss your wages following the Halloween feast, which is at six-thirty sharp. I trust you can find your way?"

"How could I ever get lost in Hogwarts?" replied Mariah.

Professor McGonagall nodded approvingly and gestured across the Hospital Wing to a door at the end near the storage cupboards. "There's your room." She placed a hand on Mariah's shoulder. "Always good to see a former student all grown up. I shall see you at the feast, Ms. Jaeger." With that, McGonagall left the room.

Mariah tossed her belongings into her small room before heading out towards the Great Hall for the feast. Not two days before had she been at home, pacing the floor and arguing herself out of leaving to hunt for Sirius Black herself, when a letter from Dumbledore had arrived, frankly requesting that she come to the school at the soonest possible time to serve as Madame Pomfrey's assistant in the Hospital Wing. Apparently the dementors Fudge had posted over the grounds had been having adverse effects on the students. Mariah was immediately suspicious. Madame Pomfrey had rarely run across an illness or an injury she couldn't cure in less than a week, and even if they did require extra help, there were many healers at St. Mungo's available for assigned work elsewhere. In fact, there was an entire department devoted to homestay care.

Her heels clicked down the stone halls, and she found herself slowly distracted by a tirade of memories. She had not seen the castle in over a decade, and shadows of the past were leaping at her from every corner. Not a few of them brought up feelings of uneasiness, and she hurried her pace. From everywhere, it seemed his face was smirking at her. His dark, disheveled hair falling carelessly above his winking eyes as he muttered some joke or gave her a cocky grin. And then the handsome face would turn gaunt and skeletal, the eyes mad, and he would laugh, scream almost, incomprehensible things...

Mariah jumped a foot in the air. Something had moved suddenly in the shadow of a suit of armor, scaring the bejeezus out of her. A ginger cat ran out, then, giving her a disapproving look. Mariah staggered back a step.

"Stop it," she muttered to herself, tearing her eyes away from the corner. She turned down into a bigger hallway and found herself merging into a sea of Ravenclaws all headed towards the Great Hall.

When they reached it, she had to actively stop herself from heading towards the Gryffindor table, and instead walked past the rows of students towards the elevated table at the head of the room, where the teachers all sat in a line. Her eyes roved the table and she stopped walking when she saw more than one familiar face. One of the faces glanced up and up briefly and met her gaze, and Mariah found herself looking at Remus Lupin for the first time in twelve years. Mariah felt her insides squirm at the hard look on his face and she tried to look elsewhere until she'd reached the staff table and slipped into the seat next to him.

"I don't believe it," she heard him say, and she looked up to see that his previous expression had been replaced by a smile. "Jiggery Jaeger."

"Oh shut it," snapped Mariah, but she grinned back. "What's going on? Why are you here? Why is Geoff here? And for the love of Merlin why is _Snape_ here, of all people?"

"Teaching," said Remus. "I've just been called in for Defense Against the Dark Arts because their previous instructors all end up incapacitated by the end of the year. Geoff, from what I understand, is acting as a substitute for Care of Magical Creatures. They've hired Hagrid for the job, but there was a bit of nasty business with Lucius Malfoy's son and he's lost his incentive. And Snape's been here for years. He's the Potions Master. I'm assuming since Slughorn retired." Remus frowned. "But why are you here? Don't you work at St. Mungo's?"

"Dumbledore asked for some extra help in the Hospital Wing because of the dementor setup they've got," said Mariah.

Remus frowned. "Dumbledore asked for you personally?"

"I got a letter," said Mariah. "Who would have thought? You, Geoff, Snape, and I all back at Hogwarts again."

"Who would have thought..." repeated Remus thoughtfully, his smile gone. He took a long drink, and Mariah looked out over the crowd of unfamiliar students. A few were looking her way curiously, but the feast was so fantastic that their attention was not held long.

Mariah glanced along the Gryffindor table until she spotted a familiar figure. "Is that him?"

Remus followed her gaze. "Harry," he said, nodding.

"It's uncanny..."

"Isn't it?" said Remus.

"Have you spoken to him at all?" asked Mariah excitedly.

"A little," said Remus. "He's very much like Lily. He talks like her. Much more inquisitive than James."

"Look at him," said Mariah, shaking her head. "I feel like we're back at school." Remus didn't answer. Mariah felt his silence and focused on her plate for a few minutes.

The feast ended, and the two of them filed out with the crowd. Mariah couldn't help jumping every time she caught a glimpse of Harry. She watched him ascend the Spiral Staircase with the rest of the student body. She had only ever got to meet him once before. Her best friend's son. That was the last time she had seen Lily. Come to think of it, that was the last time she had seen any of her friends.

"What are you doing?" asked Remus, noticing her hanging back.

"I have to speak with Dumbledore," said Mariah.

"Ah. I suppose I will see you later then," said Remus, turning to leave.

"Remus?" Mariah walked over to him as he turned back around. "Remus… I'm sorry for how… how things happened," she said carefully. "I'm sorry that I was so suspicious. I just… I didn't trust anyone by that point, and I felt like no one trusted me either. And I guess everyone turned out to be wrong, and… well, I'm sorry."

Remus looked at her and sighed. He put a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, too," he said. "Things were different… very different from how they are now, and how they were before. It was only natural that we would fall apart."

"I hope we can be friends again," said Mariah. "I miss having friends."

Remus smiled. "I miss it too," he said. They embraced, and Mariah felt years of silence fall away. Remus drew back. "I will see you tomorrow," he said, turning and walking towards the Spiral Staircase. Mariah watched him go, then turned to see Albus Dumbledore approaching her from the Great Hall.

"Miss Jaeger," he said in greeting. "Thank you for coming on such short notice. I hate to drag you away from St. Mungo's, but you see I had a special case."

"Really, it's no trouble," said Mariah, following the headmaster out of the hall.

"I can pay you the same rate as the other professors here, since I have stolen you from your daily job to work here and have imposed on your time. Poppy will decide your hours. Unfortunately with the dementors guarding the grounds, you might want to avoid venturing into Hogsmeade very often. Personally, I find that they give me the willies just in passing."

"Professor… why exactly did you ask me to come-"

"Professor Dumbledore! Sir!" A second-year Gryffindor was running towards them from the Spiral Staircase. "It's the Fat Lady, sir! Her portrait's been slashed'n she's done a runner, sir! Come quick!"

Dumbledore was off walking quicker than Mariah would have expected of a man of his age. She ran to keep up, scaling the steps of the Spiral Staircase two at a time.

They reached Gryffindor Tower, and the crowd of students parted for Dumbledore as he approached the portrait with the utmost gravity. Mariah hung back, craning over the mob to get a good look. The Fat Lady was gone, and her portrait had indeed been mutilated, the canvas torn away in big clawlike strips.

"We need to find her," said Dumbledore from the front of the crowd. He turned to Professor McGonagall, who too had been notified. "Professor McGonagall, please go to Mr. Filch at once and tell him to search every painting in the castle for the Fat Lady."

"You'll be lucky!" cackled a familiar voice, and Mariah looked up to see Peeves drifting lazily above them.

"What do you mean, Peeves?" asked Dumbledore.

"Ashamed, Your Headship, sir. Doesn't want to be seen. She's a horrible mess. Saw her running through the landscape up on the fourth floor, sir, dodging between the trees. Crying something dreadful. Poor thing."

"Did she say who did it?" asked Dumbledore.

"Oh, yes, Professorhead. He got very angry when she wouldn't let him in, you see. Nasty temper he's got, that Sirius Black."

Mariah felt her stomach drop as a few of the students screamed. Dumbledore raised his arms for silence and immediately ordered all of the Gryffindor students to return to the Great Hall. He turned to Professor McGonagall and began hurriedly ordering something Mariah couldn't hear.

She leaned against a pillar as the throng of students filed past her, her throat tight. He was here, in the castle. He was somewhere here. Her eyes flicked up suddenly as the spitting image of James slipped past her once again, jarring her. His eyes met hers and she felt another pang, but looked away and hurriedly walked in the opposite direction, towards Dumbledore. He was looking wary. McGonagall turned and started down the hall just as Mariah reached him.

"Professor, what are we going to do?" she asked.

"Gather the students and search the castle," said Dumbledore. "The grounds. Everywhere."

"Why did you really ask me to come here, Professor?" asked Mariah. "Did it have anything to do with him?"

"Mariah, you, Geoff, and Remus experienced the highest loss- the loss of a friend at the hands of a fellow friend. As you probably know, it is suspected that Black is now after Harry. You three, therefore, are the three who would be willing to go to the furthest lengths in order to protect him. I brought you here for his protection, and for your own." Dumbledore glanced back at the slashed portrait. "But now, I think, is not the time to dwell on the past. I'm going to have to ask you to report to the Great Hall to help supervise the students. Poppy is no doubt there now, and she will tell you what to do. I must now go and help the search."

Dumbledore gave her one last significant look before heading off down the hallway. Mariah glanced once more at the ruined canvas, and could almost see Sirius's crazed wide eyes glaring out of her from the depths of the scars.


	8. Social Hour

**September, 1977**

Geoffrey was seated cross-legged on the floor of the trophy room, a plaque resting in his lap as he polished it. He had been able to see his reflection in the polished silver for the past several minutes, but was content to continue scrubbing at the now nonexistent tarnish while Filch was busy berating James and Sirius for the poor job they were doing on their assigned cabinet. He glanced at the watch on his wrist. Eight-fifty. The three Gryffindors had been polishing trophies and medals for twenty minutes; the Slytherins had yet to show up. Typical.

He heard a crash followed by a loud string of swears from Filch, and a bronze shield bearing the names of several students for Special Services to the School rolled past, Sirius crawling after it, wiping tears of mirth from his eye. Geoffrey listlessly retrieved the shield and handed it to Sirius.

"Why the long face, Mansfield? Upset your new girlfriend isn't here yet?"

Geoffrey gave Sirius a flat look. "Am I supposed to be happy about being in detention?"

"Oh, lighten up, Geoff. It was just a joke - you know I hate those sons of bitches just as much as you do. Look, if it makes you feel better, James and I were thinking about maybe-"

"_This is not social hour_!" Filch barked. "This is _punishment_! Black, get back over here!"

Sirius mouthed the words _we'll discuss later_ and gave Geoff a confidential wink before hurrying back over to the cabinet he and James were working at, leaving Geoffrey polishing his plaque in silence. A few more minutes passed by, and the silence (which had only been disturbed by a constant muttering from Filch) was broken by the sound of the heavy oaken door opening as the Slytherins entered.

"Well, it's about time you decided to join us, your majesties. We were beginning to wonder if you lot thought you were above punishment," Filch said. He tossed a pair of rags and a container of polish at the Slytherins. "Snape, you can get started on the bronze in that cabinet over there, and Delacroix, you can help Mansfield finish up the silver in his cabinet. God knows he's taking long enough to do it on his own."

The two Slytherins stalked over to their appointed stations. Emilie grabbed a medal from the cabinet and held it in one hand, looking at the rag in the other. "I don't see why we can't just use _magic_," she said loudly. "You'd think there'd be some kind of charm to keep these things from tarnishing."

"Is the Pureblood Princess afraid of getting her hands dirty?" Filch asked. "Shut it and do your work."

Emilie glowered and looked back at the silver. "You've been here twenty minutes and this is all you've gotten done?" she asked.

"Didn't want to have all the fun without you and Snape," Geoff said. He had finally replaced the shield and picked up a particularly dirty trophy.

"How thoughtful of you," she said. She replaced the medal in the cabinet, and Geoff noted that it still had quite a bit of tarnish around the edges. "But, really, it's our own fault for showing up late. You deserve all the fun for being so punctual."

Geoff opened his mouth to make a retort, but was cut off as there was a scuffling sound on the other side of the room, followed by a loud crash and Filch shouting. He and Emilie turned to see Sirius and James pinning Snape to the ground, landing several well-aimed blows on the Slytherin boy's face and chest before Filch managed to pull James away. Snape rolled away from Sirius and was scrambling across the floor for his wand, which had fallen out of his robes pocket and rolled across the floor.

Sirius was raising his own wand and opening his mouth to call out an incantation, but Emilie was faster. In a flash of light, Sirius's wand was flying through the air, leaving him disarmed. Before the girl could send a hex his way, she found herself on the floor, tackled by Geoffrey, and could only watch helplessly as her wand rolled beneath the nearest trophy cabinet, out of reach.

Filch had dealt with James and was turning his attention to the rest of the group. He turned in time to see Geoffrey launching himself at Snape as the Slytherin boy gained the advantage over Sirius, and ran from the room.

In a swirl of black robes, the four boys were suddenly upon each other, fists and feet lashing out at whatever surfaces were available. In the kerfuffle, a cabinet was knocked over, glass shattering and metal trophies and shields rolling every which way.

"That - is - enough! _Stupefy_!"

A series of Stunning Spells were sent out, and from their dazed places on the floor, the students saw McGonagall and Slughorn standing in the doorway, McGonagall's nostrils flaring and her eyes flashing dangerously from one guilty face to another. Slughorn's moustache was quivering as he panted from his sprint to the trophy room.

"What in God's name is going on in here?" McGonagall demanded. "Who is responsible for this?"

All at once, accusations began to fly.

"_Silence_!" McGonagall waited a moment as the students' chattering died down. "I don't know what has gotten into your two Houses lately, but this perpetual hostility needs to stop! Now, the five of you will continue your detention tonight in _absolute silence_ under the watch of Professor Slughorn and myself, and if we hear so much as a _whimper_ from _any_ of you, you will spend the rest of the year personally assisting Mister Filch. Do I make myself clear?"

There were silent nods of affirmation.

"And as for this most recent indiscretion, the five of you will spend the rest of the week assisting Professor Slughorn organizing his ingredient cabinets in his office at eight o'clock sharp. Understood?"

More silent nodding.

After another disapproving glare from McGonagall, they returned to their cabinets and resumed polishing in silence.


	9. Sleepwalking

It was after midnight when Mariah finally chanced a venture out of her dormitory. She hadn't been certain that Corvenia Parsett was asleep until her croaking snores filled the room.

The common room was empty, as it usually was so late at night, but Mariah made sure to check the couches for any sleeping students before pushing quietly out of the portrait hole. The Fat Lady snored in her frame, undisturbed.

The castle was always soothing at night, despite the threat of being caught out after hours. The dark hallways and gaping windows open to the starlit skies gave Mariah a sense of peace and security, and it was at these moments that she felt how much she truly loved the old school.

The Astronomy Tower was rarely monitored by Filch or his ill-groomed cat, and Mariah had mapped out a relatively safe path that led her through several secret shortcuts that the caretaker never frequented. She reached the stairs without a hitch and quickly ascended, planting her feet firmly so as to not make a sound. The top of the tower came into view, and she slowed her steps, emerging out onto the landing. The wide balcony stretched before her, flanked by stone gargoyles, and the stars stretched out across the sky overhead. Mariah walked to the balcony and leaned against it, sighing.

"Evening," said a voice suddenly. Mariah yelped, jumping and whirling around. Kurt Lovell stood there, leaning against the tower wall, looking at her. Mariah slumped against the balcony for a second, her heart racing, struggling for words.

"What… what are _you_ doing here?" she demanded.

Kurt blinked. "I couldn't sleep," he said simply.

Mariah arched her eyebrows. "Couldn't sleep?" she repeated incredulously.

He shrugged. "Well, why are you here?" he asked.

Mariah opened her mouth, closed it, and opened it again, not sure of what to say. "I… well, I..." She sighed and leaned her elbows on the balcony once more, exasperated. "I couldn't sleep either."

Kurt walked over and leaned on the balcony next to her, pulling a bottle out of his robes. "Firewhiskey?" he said lightly, offering her the bottle.

She glanced at it, and then up at him. "...Yeah sure," she said after a moment, taking the bottle and tipping it back.

Kurt looked up at the sky. "Mars is bright tonight," he noted.

"I flunked Astronomy," said Mariah, lowering the bottle and looking at him.

"It's a sign of conflict," Kurt explained.

"Probably all of the attacks," said Mariah, taking another drink.

"Probably," agreed Kurt. He looked at her. "Has anyone you know been attacked?"

Mariah furrowed her brow. "No… not yet, thankfully," she said. Kurt let out his breath, shaking his head. Mariah hesitated. "If you don't mind me asking, where do you stand on all of this?"

"All what?" asked Kurt.

"Well the Death Eaters and Voldemort… are you a supporter?" said Mariah.

"I haven't decided yet," said Kurt lightly, looking back at the stars.

Mariah bit her lip. "Oh."

"What? Can't I be undecided?" said Kurt, glancing back at her. "Being pureblood doesn't bind you to a set of values you know."

"Yeah, I know, it's just, well..." Mariah cast around for the right words. "You're in Slytherin."

"So?"

"So..." Mariah drifted off.

Kurt shook his head. "You shouldn't listen to rumors," he said. "I don't judge you by your affinity for dancing sculptures."

She rolled her eyes. "Augh, for the love of Christ, I _wasn't teaching them to dance_," she groaned.

Kurt smirked at her. "Then what were you doing?"

"I was trying to get them to break open the wall!" exclaimed Mariah.

Kurt raised his eyebrows. "Why the hell were you trying to do that?" he asked.

Mariah shrugged dramatically. "Well there was a passage there, I am_ certain_ of it, but when I went back, it wasn't there. And once it disappeared right in front of me, and I'd accidentally dropped my History of Magic textbook inside just before it vanished, so I charmed a few gargoyles to break open the wall for me, only I botched the spell."

"I see," said Kurt, pressing his lips together.

Mariah stared at him. "It's not funny!" she said finally.

"I'm not laughing," said Kurt, struggling to keep his face straight.

Mariah punched him and he snickered.

"_Whossat_!?" came an angry snarl, and both Mariah and Kurt froze.

Filch.

"I know you're there, you brats… oh, you're in for it now." He sounded eager. Not a good sign.

"No!" hissed Kurt, grabbing Mariah's arm as she moved to rush back into the tower. He led her to the side and picked up a Cleansweep, throwing one leg over it. "Come on!"

Mariah mounted the broomstick just as Filch's shadow rose along the inner walls of the tower. Kurt kicked off and they rose quickly into the sky just as Mrs. Norris rounded the corner, her lamplike eyes boring into their backs as they took off around the edge of the tower and out of sight.

"That was close," breathed Kurt, slowing their speed. He glanced down at the arms clamped tight across his middle. "...Comfy?"

"I… don't… fly," said Mariah haltingly.

Kurt laughed. "Here, I'll get you back to Gryffindor Tower," he said, dipping the front of the broom and shooting downwards in a motion that caused Mariah to press her forehead to his back, eyes shut tight.

A few moments later, they had stopped next to a window. Kurt pulled out his wand and unlocked it, pushing it inwards. He glanced back at Mariah, who had not budged from her backpacklike position.

"You're going to have to let go to get in," he said.

Mariah replied with something unintelligible. Kurt reached down and unfastened her arms from around his waist, holding her forearm tightly and leaning the broom into the building. Mariah plucked up enough courage to open one eye so that she could place her foot on the sill. She dismounted the broom and dropped into the common room, feeling her anxiety leave her in a rush of relief of having two feet on solid ground again.

"See you later, then," said Kurt, squeezing her wrist once.

"Yeah," said Mariah, releasing his grip. The boy dropped like a stone, but spurred on his broom before it reached the level of the lower towers and sped off into the dark.

The portrait hole began to swing open suddenly, and Mariah whirled around, her hands behind her back. In stepped James, Sirius, and Geoff, all looking exceptionally frustrated and tired. Sirius glanced at her as they trudged towards the boys staircase.

"What are you still doing up?" he asked, frowning.

"Oh… waiting for you all," said Mariah after a moment. "Glad to see you got back alright. Late, isn't it?"

"Yeah," said Sirius, still looking suspicious. He stared for a moment. "You have firewhiskey?"

"What-" Mariah looked down. She was still holding the bottle tightly in one hand. "Oh… yeah," she said, for lack of anything better to say.

Sirius regarded her for a minute before shrugging. "Wouldn't kill you to share, you alky," he muttered, turning towards the staircase. "Right… night, then, Mariah."

"Night," said Mariah, watching them ascend the staircase. She quickly closed the window and retreated back up to her dormitory, slipping quietly back to bed. Sleep was far more difficult, awake as her mind was buzzing with thoughts of her encounter.


	10. The Invitation

The next morning, Emilie's horned owl dropped her copy of the _Daily Prophet_ into the bowl of cereal in front of her before landing a ways down the table and wending its way carefully back toward her. She gave the bird a scowl as she pulled the sopping newspaper from her bowl and set it aside, but took the letter it held in its beak and gave it a piece of sausage before it flew back to the owlery. She ripped open the envelope and read the card inside.

_Professor Horace J. Slughorn_

_cordially invites you to attend his twelfth annual_

_Slug Club Halloween Party_

_on the Thirty-First of October at Eight O'Clock in the Evening_

_in the Fifth Floor Banquet Hall._

_No costumes, please._

_RSVP - Horace J. Slughorn_

_Potions Dungeon, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._

_Regrets Only._

_Present this invitation at the door._

_Good for admission of One Club Member and One Guest._

She tossed it aside carelessly. Of course she would be attending, and of course she wouldn't be wearing a costume. Costumes were Muggle rubbish.

Rosier picked up the invitation from where she had let it fall on the table. "What's this? An invitation to Slughorn's party? When's it at?"

"Well, it's a Halloween party, so one would assume it's on Halloween. Not that it matters to you, seeing as you didn't get an invitation," she said stiffly.

"But this says admission for one club member and a guest," he said, pointing at the bottom of the card.

"Yes, but I never said I was taking you as my guest." Despite the fact they were all but going steady, she had not made up her mind to take him as her guest. Until he either came to his senses and decided to treat her like a lady instead of a slampiece, there would going to be no assumptions as to whom was being taken where.

Rosier frowned and opened his mouth to say something, but stopped as Mulciber elbowed him in the side.

"Hey, Rosier, check out Manic Mansfield over there. Where d'you think he got that shiner?"

The Slytherin boys all started sniggering behind their hands as Mansfield crossed the Great Hall toward the Gryffindor table, sporting a spectacular black eye. Emilie gave an indifferent sniff and used her wand to dry off her newspaper, knowing full and well where the black eye had come from and not caring to hear the boys' speculations.

"What do you guys say we give him another one to match?"

There was a general chorus of agreement following Rosier's suggestion, and the boys began formulating a plan.

Tired of Rosier haranguing her about Slughorn's party, Emilie had retreated to the library by two that afternoon. By five-thirty, she had finished all her assignments for the rest of the week and, at a loss for anything else to do to fill the gap until she was due in Slughorn's office for detention, she headed downstairs to the Great Hall for dinner, dreading having to listen to Rosier rant and rave about not being in the Slug Club for the umpteenth time.

She descended a staircase and turned right, planning on taking a hidden corridor from the third floor down to the first, but stopped when she heard voices from behind the tapestry concealing the passageway.

"_Tarantallegra_!"

"Oh, that's a good one - haha, look at him go, Avery! Ever seen someone dance like that?"

"No, but I'm not sure I'd ever want to."

The boys broke into laughter. Emilie pulled aside the tapestry to find Avery, Mulciber, and Rosier bent double with laughter as they watched Geoffrey Mansfield try to pull off a magically conjured blindfold and fight off the dancing curse.

"I think that's good enough - _locomotor mortis_!"

Geoffrey's legs snapped together and he lost his balance, tumbling onto the floor.

"That's right, Mansfield, not so tough without this, are you?" Rosier asked, examining the wand he held in his hand. He waved it experimentally and Geoffrey was hauled into the air by an ankle, still trying to rip the blindfold from his eyes.

"I'll kill you - I swear I will - all of you-"

"Well, that's no good, is it, boys?" Rosier asked, looking at the other Slytherins as they burst into more laughter. "Better not give him back his wand, then. Maybe we ought to do ourselves a favor and..." He took one end of the wand in each hand and began to bend it.

"_Evan_, what are you doing?"

He released the tension on the wand and gave it an absent wave, letting Geoffrey fall to the ground. "Just giving this blood-traitor what he deserves. Want a turn?"

She looked from Evan to Geoffrey and back again, her eyes narrowing and her lips forming a thin line. "Three against one, Evan?"

"Hardly better than Snape had last night in the trophy room," Mulciber said. "Heard you hardly bothered to jump in and help him, come to think of it. Just shot a couple of sparks at your new boyfriend here. Not turning into one of _them_ are you?" He nudged Geoffrey with a foot.

Emilie folded her arms across her chest. "Just leave him alone."

Avery looked at Rosier sympathetically. "Sorry, mate, but it's no wonder she said she didn't want to take you to Slughorn's party. She wanted to take Mansfield all along."

She scoffed. "Just give him back his wand and leave him alone. You're going to get Slytherin House into even more trouble. McGonagall is already breathing down our necks, and she doesn't need any more incentive from _you_."

Rosier looked at Emilie's flat expression for a moment, then rolled his eyes and heaved a dramatic sigh. "_Fine_, Emilie. We'll leave the mudwallower alone for now. Besides, I think we've done enough for today, boys," he added, dropping Geoffrey's wand. "Let's get out of here." As he passed the unlucky Gryffindor, he gave him a good kick in the side. "And remember to watch your back, Mansfield." Avery and Mulciber followed him out of the passage, guffawing as they imitated Geoffrey's tarantallegra dance.

Emilie picked up Geoffrey's wand and knelt beside him, holding it out to him as he tugged at the magical blindfold still covering her eyes. She dispelled the jinx with a wave of her own wand. "Sorry about them," she said. "you didn't deserve that."

He gave her a dark look and snatched his wand from her hand. "I don't need _your_ help," he snapped.

"Next time I'll let them leave you in a bloody pulp on the floor, then. Filch will enjoy cleaning that up."

"Sorry," he said in a rather forced tone. He looked away from her for a moment to examine the tips of his fingers, bloody from where he had pulled them away from his busted lower lip. "Thank you," he added stiffly.

She regarded him silently for a moment as he gingerly felt his ribs where Rosier had kicked him. "You really don't like Slytherins, do you?"

"Your lot hasn't given me much reason to like you, no," he said. "But I generally try not to associate myself with Death Eaters."

"Because you're such a saint," she snapped. "So tolerant of everyone, always looking out for everyone's best interests, right?"

He turned his attention from his various injuries to look at her through narrowed eyes. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying look at yourself. You think you're so very different from Evan and his friends? You assume every Slytherin is a Death Eater without hearing our side of it. I'm a Slytherin, and I just kept my Slytherin friends from snapping your wand in half. Does that make me a Death Eater?"

He touched his bottom lip again, and pulled his fingers away to see that the bleeding hadn't slowed. "I already said thank you," he said. "I don't know what else you want to hear."

She watched him for a long moment. Judging from the cracked watch on his wrist, it was already after six. Deciding that he was going to say no more, the Slytherin girl stood and began to walk away.

"Emilie," he called after her, and she stopped, half-turning to look back at him. "If things were different, do you think we could ever have been friends?"

"You mean if the Sorting Hat had put us in the same House?" she asked. She paused, looking away for a moment. "Yes, I think we might have been friends if things were different," she said at last. "But they aren't. I'll see you in detention, Mansfield."

And with that, she turned on her heel and disappeared down the corridor.


	11. En Passant

News of Slughorn's party spread fast through the school, and soon members of the Slug Club found themselves being eyed by nonmembers hoping for an invitation. Secret admirer notes were a commonality, and it was always after the first Slughorn event that the year's first wave of relationships began. After all, there was no fancier event throughout the year than Slughorn's parties, and students found them to be ideally romantic.

"So you're taking James," said Mariah conversationally, eager for a distraction from the as-of-yet unmarked, footlong parchment scroll in front of her.

Lily nodded, starting her third paragraph. "Yes… he got down on one knee and asked me to take him," she said, quirking the corner of her mouth in a half-smile. "In the middle of Astronomy."

"Ooh, gal_lant_," grinned Mariah.

"_Shh_!" came the stern hiss of Madam Pince. "This is not social hour! This is a library!"

The girls turned back to their papers, trying to look busy. Once the librarian had passed, they resumed their conversation.

"Is Sirius sore again for not going?" asked Mariah. "After last year when he found out he missed that famous Beater..."

"No, he hasn't said a word about it this year," said Lily, furrowing her brow. "That is strange, last year it was all he could talk about. Trying to charm Gwenog like he did..."

"_That's it_, ladies, _out_!" barked Madam Pince, striding over with her wand raised.

Lily and Mariah bolted, grabbing their things before the angry librarian could jinx them.

"Rotten old buzzard..." grumbled Lily as they made their way back to the common room. "You'd think we were setting the books on fire or something."

"Is Snape going with anyone?" asked Mariah.

Lily's lips thinned. "How should I know? We don't get on anymore," she said shortly.

Mariah shrugged. "Lily..." she said tentatively, "do you think it's alright for...well for Gryffindors and Slytherins to hang out?"

"What?" asked Lily. "_Billywig_," she added to the Fat Lady, who swung open promptly.

"What I mean is… well, you and Snape got on for your whole lives right up until..." She paused. "Well, present circumstances."

"So?" asked Lily, confused.

"See there's this guy-"

"What guy?" came a gruff voice from the nearest armchairs, making both Lily and Mariah jump and whirl around to see Sirius and Remus sitting there, halfway through a game of chess.

"Do you _ever_ go to class!?" shouted Mariah.

"I'm in class," he said defensively. "Chess class." He made a move. "So what guy?"

"Why do you care?"

"Because I have _never_ seen you with a guy," said Sirius, cursing as Remus, looking bored, moved a white player that immediately smashed Sirius's knight to bits.

"I hang around with _you_, don't I?" frowned Mariah.

"As of last year, somewhat, yes, but that's different; we are not currently snogging."

"Well what about Lily? She hangs around with you lot, too" said Mariah.

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "She and _James_ are currently snogging," he said pointedly. "But go on, who is the lucky bastard? I was beginning to worry about you."

"No one," said Mariah, rolling her eyes.

"Doesn't sound like no one."

"Well I'm not telling you!" exclaimed Mariah.

"Fine, don't tell me who it is," said Sirius, moving a piece haughtily. Remus promptly took it. Mariah sighed at his silent treatment and looked back to Lily, who shrugged.

"So when did you meet him?" she asked.

"After hours when I fell asleep in the library. I was headed back and Filch almost cornered me, but he pulled me behind a tapestry just in time."

"My kind of man!" barked Sirius, moving his bishop. Remus took it with his queen.

"Sirius, if you're not even going to try, I don't see much point in this," he said.

"Have you seen him since?" asked Lily.

"Yeah the other night," said Mariah. "I accidentally took his firewhiskey. Filch almost caught us and he flew me back from the Astronomy Tower."

"Hold up, you're not planning on snogging this guy, are you?" asked Sirius, leaning over the back of the armchair as Remus took his king with a pawn, much to the excitement of the white players.

"Why do you think that any guy I am involved with is snogging me?" asked Mariah in exasperation. "We're just friends! Acquaintances, even!"

"You're too excited to be acquaintances!"

"So he's… not in Gryffindor," said Lily, nodding in understanding. "I see..."

"What? What do you see? What does she see?" he glanced back at Remus, who shrugged dramatically. "What house is he in then?"

"What were you doing in the Astronomy Tower?" asked Lily, frowning. "You're not even in Astronomy."

"I don't know, I couldn't sleep, I walk around the castle when I can't sleep," said Mariah.

"Hey, don't change the subject!" interrupted Sirius. "What do you see?"

"Where's James?" asked Mariah, looking at Remus.

"Quidditch practice, for the Ravenclaw game this weekend," said Remus. "Not supposed to end until dinner."

"No, Remus, don't play their game! They want us to forget our mission!" protested Sirius.

"Oh," said Lily. "Well, Mariah, we should probably go upstairs to finish our essays. It doesn't look like we'll get much peace down here."

"Yeah, alright," said Mariah, following the redhead towards the dormitories.

"Hey, Mariah," said Sirius. Mariah turned around. "If you ever need a lesson in snogging, you'll never get a better teacher than your's truly." He grinned wolfishly. Mariah paused.

"Yeah, see you later," she said abruptly, hurrying after her friend.

"Fine! Run! See if I care! Moony, another round!" said Sirius loudly.

"Sirius, you're just going to lose-"

"Nope, this bitch is mine, let's go!"

Remus sighed and waved his wand to repair Sirius's chess pieces before setting them back up and giving them encouraging looks for the next game.


	12. Petty Revenge

Emilie glanced up as Severus dropped himself into the seat beside her. Before she could so much as open her mouth to say hello, he fixed her with a pointed look. "What's this I hear about you and Mansfield the Mudwallower?"

Her brow creased for a moment as she worked out what he was saying, but then her expression cleared and she rolled her eyes. "If it's Evan that's been telling stories, don't believe a word of it. I found him and his buddies about to snap Mansfield's wand in half in the corridor behind the Goblin Rebellion tapestry on the third floor."

"Well, God forbid that should happen. What do you care what happens to Mansfield or his wand?"

A loud slam behind them prompted Emilie to swivel around to see that Geoffrey had dropped his bag down on the desk. "Yes, Emilie, why _do_ you care? Or do you just make a habit out of sticking your nose in other people's business?"

She pressed her lips together, but turned away without another word to him. "Come on, Sev, if you saw Evan ganging up on someone, what would you have done?"

"If I may borrow a phrase from Mansfield, I would have kept my nose out of their business."

"That'd be hard to do," Geoffrey chimed in from behind them. "It's a bit large, you know."

Emilie saw Severus's knuckles turn white as he clenched his fists on the desktop. She opened her mouth to say something to try and calm her fellow Slytherin before the tension could escalate into another all-out brawl during the practical application of the day's lesson, but was interrupted as McGonagall appeared at the front of the classroom and silenced everyone with one of her stern looks.

To most everyone's dismay (and to Emilie's immense relief), there was no practical application of the lesson that day after McGonagall's typical lecture, although a lengthy essay on the properties of troll hair was assigned to be handed in the following week. There was quite a bit of grumbling at this, as the Quidditch match that weekend and the subsequent celebrations would take up a good portion of essay-writing time, but McGonagall wouldn't hear of any protests and shooed them all from the classroom without further discussion.

As soon as Emilie had finished packing up her things, she looked up to see that Severus had already disappeared into the throng of students out in the corridor, and that Geoff was quickly making his way toward the door as well. "Mansfield," she called, hurrying to catch up to him.

He half-turned, slowing his pace, one eyebrow cocked.

"What the hell was that?" she demanded. "The other day you were asking if we could be friends, and now you're telling me to keep my nose out of your business? And here I thought Gryffindors were supposed to have a sense of _honor_."

"You made it clear that you don't want to be friends, so why does it matter?" he asked, shouldering his way past a group of second-year Ravenclaws.

"If you want to be friends, you could at least try to be nice."

"Fine. I'm sorry. Happy now?"

"No - wait - come back here!"

He ignored her and continued striding resolutely up one corridor and down another, Emilie following all the while, calling for him to wait up.

After nearly a quarter of an hour of leading her through corridors and secret passages, Geoff finally stopped and rewarded her persistence with an exasperated look. "Okay, fine, I give up. I'm stopping. You can quit shouting at me. Now what in Christ's name do you want, Delacroix?"

"I want you to go to Slughorn's party with me."

Of all the things Geoffrey Mansfield had imagined Emilie Delacroix would say, that was perhaps the most unexpected. He foundered for a moment, then managed to choke out, "Why in God's name-?"

"You want to be friends, don't you? Friends do things together, like go to Slughorn's party."

"You said we couldn't be friends."

"It can't hurt to try, right?" She gave him an almost apologetic grin. "You said you wanted to give it a shot, so why not?"

Geoff's eyes narrowed. "Give me one good reason."

"I'll give you three. Rosier, Mulciber, Avery," she said, holding up a finger for each name. "Just think how angry they'd be to see us there together. It's petty, but it could be fun."

She waited for a moment as he considered. "Why do you want them angry?" he asked at last. "I thought they were your friends."

"They _were_. Since the other day, though, they've hardly bothered to look at me, let alone _talk_ to me. And if I can get you to go to Slughorn's party, that's my little, spiteful revenge, and who knows? Maybe we'll actually end up being friends. We both win."

Geoffrey looked doubtful as he glanced down at her offered hand. Haltingly, he grasped it and shook it. "Fine, you have a deal," he said. "I'll go to Slughorn's party with you."

She beamed at him, gave his hand a final, fond squeeze, and flounced away down the corridor. She couldn't wait to see the look on Rosier's face.


	13. Quidditch

The weekend found them straining under mountains of homework, which everyone gratefully threw to the side for the next Quidditch game: Ravenclaw vs Gryffindor. Slytherin was eager to see some retribution for their loss, but Hufflepuff was generously split. Needless to say, the Ravenclaws and the Gryffindors were feeling equally confident.

"This'll make up for all the points we lost in Transfiguration," Mariah pointed out as they crossed the grassy lawns with everyone else. "Let's just hope James made plans for McKinnon to hold out until we're pretty far up to end it..."

"Not if Cresswell manages to get it first. You never know," said Lily. "They've been coming up with some pretty good stuff lately." She readjusted her red and gold scarf over her shoulder and frowned, looking over towards the entrance to the stands. "What are they all doing over there?" she wondered aloud, nodding at a small crowd of Slytherins holding some sort of council. A few of them were looking over their shoulders and, seeing the two girls looking their way, glared and turned back to discussion.

"Maybe they're debating who they're going to attack in the hallways next," muttered Mariah. She watched the group, recognizing Lovell near one end, Rodolphus Lestrange beside him. They were arguing about something, she could see, but the others were not watching them. They were more absorbed in something Mulciber was telling them. As they passed through the entrance, her eyes met his, and she saw him grin just as she lost sight of him.

"Hope we can find a spot near the front without having to jinx anyone," chuckled Lily as they climbed the steps up to the stands. Mariah was about to comment when she heard her name called and looked down.

"Hey! Mariah, hold up!" She looked down to see Kurt running up past a few red-clad supporters. She glanced back at Lily, who looked confused, and then wary. Kurt stopped a few stairs down from Mariah and grinned up at her. "Hey, I was wondering if I could talk to you after the match," he said.

"Yeah, sure," said Mariah. "Um… where?"

"Just wait for me outside the stadium after," said Kurt, waving once. "I'll see you!"

"See you..." said Mariah, watching him descend. She looked back up guiltily at Lily, who looked conflicted.

"So when you said there was a guy..." she started. Mariah shrugged.

"Come on, let's go up," she said, continuing up the steps.

"I didn't think you meant _Kurt Lovell_," hissed Lily, walking alongside her. "Isn't he one of the supporters?"

"Well I asked him the other night and he said he wasn't sure, but he doesn't act like it. Look, don't tell the others or they'll never leave me alone. Promise? Promise, Lily?" Mariah whispered back pleadingly.

"I won't tell if you don't want me to," said Lily. "Does he know you're a half-blood?"

"I don't know, we haven't talked about families at all. We've only met twice!"

They made their way up to where the Gryffindor supporters were jumping up and down, cheering, and made their way down to the front. Down on the field, the teams strode out into the center where the referee stood with the four balls. The captains shook hands. Madam Hooch blew her whistle and fourteen broomsticks took off into the air. She tossed the Quaffle into play, and the crowd cheered.

"Whoops, budge up there, ladies. Support committee coming through."

"Ah wha-NO, you lot, don't bring that giant banner over here!" cried Mariah, batting it away as it draped over her face.

"Oh come on, we're the moral support! They can't fly without us!" scoffed Sirius, acting mortally affronted as he held the banner aloft.

"Go support morale somewhere else! The fringe is getting in my face!"

"Then help hold it up!" retorted Sirius.

Mariah extracted herself from the fabric and looked back up at the game. The teams had taken to the air and were already in full swing of play. She watched James Potter shoot the Quaffle past the Ravenclaw Keeper as the poor girl rushed to block the wrong hoop. The booming voice of Slytherin Ludo Bagman filled the stadium with roars of, "GRYFFINDORS SCORE! TWENTY-TEN TO GRYFFINDOR!"

A light rain began to fall, and, as the game progressed, it turned to a healthy pour. Lily and the rest of the crowd unfolded umbrellas while Mariah stood stiff with crossed arms, her robes already sticking to her.

"I don't know why you don't own an umbrella," sighed Lily.

"I usually figure if it's raining, I'll go inside!" spluttered Mariah. "Besides, where did this idea for everyone to bring an umbrella come from? I heard nothing about this!"

The rain suddenly stopped falling around her face and she looked up to see the Gryffindor banner lying flat above her head, with Sirius holding it so.

"Do not mock the support committee," he said gruffly. Mariah was about to retort when the banner above her head let out a huge roar and she nearly jumped out of her skin.

"What the_ hell_ was that!?"

"Just a bit of decoration," said Sirius, laughing at her.

"James's idea actually," piped up Remus from the middle of the banner. "Diversionary tactics. He thinks if we use the loudest and flashiest flags, then Ravenclaw would be so distracted by our spirit that they would forget about the game."

"I don't think anything can distract Ravenclaw from trying to beat Gryffindor today," said Lily. "Unless you brought a real flying lion the size of a troll."

"Hey, now there's an idea," grinned Sirius.

"Good luck getting it up the stairs," muttered Mariah.

"Oh if Hagrid can get up those stairs, then so can a flying lion the size of a troll," said Sirius.

"Ye wouldn' be talkin 'bout me now would ye?" came a familiar voice, and they all looked up.

"Oi, Hagrid! What are the chances of obtaining a real flying lion the size of a troll as our new mascot?" asked Sirius.

"Unlikely," said Hagrid shortly. "Though, I _do_ know a bloke who came across a litter of 'em up in-"

"Don't encourage him!" interjected Lily as Sirius's grin widened.

The match ended with a victory for Gryffindor, but not for lack of trying on Ravenclaw's part; they put up a good fight and had a strong lead, the score being 90 - 50, Ravenclaw, (three of the five Gryffindor goals having been scored by James Potter) until the Gryffindor Seeker caught the Snitch, bringing the final score to 90-200. As the exuberant red-and-gold-clad students flooded the field, their Seeker held aloft, the other students exited the stands more slowly, the Hufflepuffs chattering animatedly about the match while the Ravenclaws sulked and the Slytherins showed general disappointment that Gryffindor had won.

As the crowd filed out of the stadium, Mariah hung back, leaning against the wall of the stadium where the Slytherins had been earlier. Sirius, Remus, and Peter were long gone, having supported James on their shoulders all the way up to the castle, knocking his head against the roof of the entrance on their way out. After a quick word to Lily, she'd extricated herself from the crowd and waited patiently.

After almost everyone was gone, Kurt appeared at the entrance, spotting her and walking over.

"Hey, good match," he said.

"Yeah, Ravenclaw didn't do too bad either," said Mariah.

"Almost had it near the end, but Cresswell came out of nowhere and..." He punched the air in a brief imitation and grimaced.

"Yeah," said Mariah, smiling. They drifted into silence. "So..."

"So..." Kurt took a deep breath, looking suddenly serious. "I wanted to talk to you about something… that's been bothering me for a while..." Mariah felt her stomach drop. Was he talking about the library? Had he seen her take their book of… well… hexes.

"What?" she asked slowly. Kurt looked like he was casting around for the right words.

"Well… I think I like you. I mean I do like you. And I'd like to get to know you better. It's just that..." He sighed.

"Your friends don't approve of me," finished Mariah, her heart sinking. Kurt stopped, raising an eyebrow at her.

"What? No. Why should they care?" he asked, confused.

"Because I'm a Gryffindor, and my dad's a Muggle," said Mariah. Kurt shook his head.

"No, no, I knew that, it doesn't matter," he said, brushing it off.

"What?" said Mariah, surprised.

"No, I was just going to say that since you're always with that Sirius Black or Lupin, that maybe you were involved with one of them," said Kurt. Mariah was taken aback by the idea.

"Wha-no! They're just _friends_," she said, emphasizing the word.

"So you're not involved with anyone?"

"No, I'm not involved with anyone."

Kurt looked considerably happier. "Well, in that case, I just happen to have an invitation to Professor Slughorn's Halloween party-would you do me the honor of being my date?" he asked.

"You're in the Slug Club?" asked Mariah, surprised.

"Yeah, want to go? I hear they've got little snails on plates with toothpicks in them."

"Yeah, um… alright yeah," said Mariah, smiling.

"Excellent," said Kurt. "Come on, then, I'll walk you back up."

They headed back towards the castle.


	14. Early November, 1993

**Early November, 1993**

"Headmaster, I really must question your decision to bring Jaeger, Lupin, and Mansfield back to Hogwarts, given the current circumstances."

Dumbledore placed the silver trinket he had been examining back in its spot on the shelf, glancing over at Snape through his half-moon spectacles as he shut the cabinet doors. "Whatever do you mean, Severus?" he asked.

"Given that Black has escaped, and that we have reason to believe his next target is the Potter boy, do you really think it wise to reunite Black's little gang?"

From the corner of his eye, Dumbledore saw McGonagall stiffen, her already thin lips pressing themselves into an even thinner line. "_Severus_," she said, "I hardly think that _you_, of all people, are in any position to question the headmaster's faith in anyone."

"Don't you think it's a remarkable coincidence that Black should enter the castle the very night that Mariah Jaeger chose to arrive?" Snape went on, ignoring McGonagall. "As I recall, the two were quite close before his arrest."

"He was close to the Potters, too, and look where they are," McGonagall said. "Surely you aren't suggesting that Mariah helped Black to enter the castle?"

Snape gave her a pointed look.

She scoffed. "I'll not believe it," she said. "Albus, surely you can't think that Mariah would _help_ Black? Not after what he did to the Potters."

"Certainly not," Dumbledore said, settling himself into the chair behind his desk. He pulled another silver instrument toward himself and began prodding it with his wand tip. "She, Remus, and Geoffrey are here for a simple reason. They are here for Harry's protection, and for their own."

"Sir," Snape said, stepping forward and putting his hands on Dumbledore's desk, "I am _begging_ you to reconsider. Need I remind you that Geoffrey Mansfield's wife is in Azkaban for supporting the Dark Lord? And Remus was one of Black's closest friends when they were at school - never mind the other security risks in bringing him here."

Dumbledore set the instrument aside, and steepled his fingers in front of him, giving Snape a serene smile. "I appreciate your concern, Severus, but I am asking you to trust me, as I have trusted you. It is in the boy's best interest that his parents' old friends are here; he is the spitting image of James, but has so much of Lily in him - I suspect Remus and the others would go to great lengths to protect what is left of their old friends."

Snape sighed, dropping his hands from the headmaster's desk, and straightened. "As you say, headmaster," he said, and promptly left the office.

Storms were raging across the grounds of Hogwarts, the tops of the trees in the Forbidden Forest tossing this way and that in the fierce gales. A gaggle of third-years stood in the entryway to the castle, peering out across the grounds in the direction of the gamekeeper's hut.

"D'you reckon we should run for it?" Seamus Finnegan asked. He yanked at the cloak hung around his shoulders as though preparing for a mad dash through the downpour.

"Dad can shove those bowtruckles up his arse. I'm not going out in that," Joel said from the back of the group. His friends sent up a murmur of assent, Draco loudest of them all.

"We _can't_ be having class in this," Dean Thomas said. "Professor Mansfield would have to be mad to think we'd go out in this."

"I wouldn't be surprised. He does seem a bit touched, doesn't he?" Ron asked.

"_Ron_!" Hermione hissed.

"I'm just _saying_, if my old lady got shipped off to Azkaban-"

"Bugger off, Weasley," Joel said, pushing his way through the crowd of students as a bolt of lightning slashed through the sky. Thunder followed almost immediately. "At least my dad didn't try to make a Muggle car _fly_."

Another flash of lightning illuminated the grounds, and the silhouette of the scarred Whomping Willow could be seen swaying in the strong winds. The students recoiled from the doorway as the gale began to blow harder, sending a rush of water into the castle's entryway.

"Yeah," Ron said. "Your dad just married a psychopath, that's all."

A right hook from Joel had blood pouring from Ron's nose an instant later, and the nearest students stepped back, eager to get away from the ensuing fistfight. Harry leapt to Ron's side, raising his own fists in front of him, preparing to deflect another hit from the Slytherin. Hermione was hissing at them from the sidelines, urging them to stop it before they landed themselves in trouble _again_, or worse, lost House points for Gryffindor for fighting. Draco quickly set himself to reassuring Pansy Parkinson that Joel would show those Mudblood-loving Gryffindors what was what while Crabbe and Goyle stepped forward behind Joel, cracking their knuckles.

Thunder rumbled through the air. A beat passed, and an instant later Ron was bellowing, launching himself at Joel. Harry threw himself forward at Crabbe and Goyle, while the knot of students around them cheered them on. Crabbe and Goyle had soon thrown the skinny Gryffindor to the ground, kicking at any bit of him they could find. Harry's years of dealing with Dudley and his gang, however, had prepared him for fistfights with large thugs, and he dodged nearly every blow they threw.

Not a minute later, Professor Mansfield had appeared in the doorway and was shoving his way through the crowd of third-years. "Move, the lot of you! Go on, get away from - let me in the bloody doors, do you think I'm out in this storm for my health? _Move_, I said! The bowtruckles have all gotten washed away... What's all this, then?"

Crabbe and Goyle drifted back into the crowd of students, abandoning their assault on Harry to resume their usual positions behind Draco. The heavy doors of the entrance hall swung shut behind the professor, instantly muffling the sound of the raging storm while Geoffrey took in the situation. He had soon grabbed hold of the back of his son's robes, pulling him away from Ron with some difficulty while Harry picked himself up off the stone floor.

"Good news and bad news, everyone," he said, panting, keeping a firm grip on the back of Joel's robes as the Slytherin boy scowled. "Good news, class is cancelled today. Bad news, you'll be writing two feet of parchment about the characteristics of the bowtruckle. Potter, Weasley - a word, if you please."

The class dispersed, groaning about the essay they would be writing in lieu of their cancelled lesson, and Harry and Ron followed Professor Mansfield and Joel down a short corridor to the staff room where Lupin had given them their boggart lesson. The wardrobe still rattled as though the boggart were trying to escape, but the door was firmly locked.

Geoffrey released his son's robes and pointed at one of the squashy armchairs, gesturing for Harry and Ron to take their pick of the remaining seats. He settled himself onto a sofa that looked as though it could collapse at any given moment.

"Boys," he said flatly, "I don't know what happened, but this sort of behavior is not acceptable. I don't care who started it," he added as Joel and Ron both opened their mouths, pointing accusing fingers at each other. "But I am finishing it. If I hear of any of the three of you fighting in the corridors, it will be detention. As it is, ten points from each of you. Now take yourselves up to the hospital wing and have Madam Pomfrey and Ms. Jaeger get you cleaned up before your next class."

Remus looked markedly more stressed ever since the Fat Lady incident, though Mariah knew it was not from his workload. His clothes hung looser on him, and his skin seemed almost constantly clammy, as though he were stuck in a fever.

"Oh… Remus, are you sure you'll be alright?" asked Mariah.

"I've got Snape brewing the potion for me, I should be alright," said Remus.

"Oh don't be silly, you know I could do it for you," said Mariah.

"Snape's the residential Potions Master, it was part of the precautions made for me to come here," said Remus. "And though I'm sure he's not doing me any favors to brighten the taste a little, it would be unprofessional of me to refuse him."

Mariah did not see him the next day, nor the day after. From Snape's smug attitude and not-so-subtle comments, it seemed that he had taken over Remus's classes. Mariah made a little extra effort to avoid Snape, and spent most of her time either with Geoff or in the Hospital Wing.

She would have ventured out to the Quidditch game, but Madame Pomfrey advised her to stay working. Apparently the Weasley twins were enough of a reason to keep the Hospital Wing hot and ready for injured players.

The morning was quiet save for the coughing of a hypochondriac first-year who was in for his fifth dose of Pepperup Potion that month.

"Scullies, you've been in every week, you know there's no cure for the common cold save for time," said Mariah, frowning.

"But, Nurse Jaeger, me mam says I needs to keep coming back til you gives me what I want. That's how the world is, me mam says," said the kid with a slight lisp.

"Tell you what, Mr. Scullies, tell your mam that students are allowed up to only four free services of any one medical potion each semester save for emergencies, and any further will be costing two galleons co-pay," said Mariah. The first-year nodded fervently and scuttled out of the hospital wing straight to the Owlery

"Nurse Jaeger, I don't think there is a need to lie to students," said Madame Pomfrey, entering from the back room.

"I'm sorry, Poppy. It won't happen again," said Mariah. Madame Pomfrey said nothing more, but went about replacing the sheets on one of the end beds.

Suddenly, the doors burst open, and Dumbledore entered, a stretcher levitating at his side.

"Poppy, a bed," he said. Madame Pomfrey immediately rolled the sheets down a middle bed while Mariah tipped her wand over an empty jug, filling it with water.

"Oh, my goodness, it's the Potter boy again," she heard Madame Pomfrey say. "What's happened now?"

"Dementors," said Dumbledore. Madame Pomfrey shot Mariah a look. Mariah went immediately to the store cupboards, where a large chocolate supply had been recently acquired in light of the new security measures. She grabbed a large piece and brought it along with the jug to Harry's bedside.

"Just fainted," muttered Madame Pomfrey, feeling Harry's head, "he won't be out long. What in heavens-"

A large crowd of dripping-wet Gryffindors had just burst through the Hospital Wing doors, tracking mud across the tile to Harry's bedside. Mariah recognized Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger among them, looking pale as ghosts. Harry stirred, and everyone leaned closer. Madame Pomfrey managed to extract herself from the crowd and headed off to retrieve a few towels from the store cupboards. Professor Dumbledore, Mariah suddenly noticed, had left in all the commotion.

"Harry!" said one of the Weasley twins. "How're you feeling?"

"What happened?" asked Harry, sitting up quickly. Mariah busied herself with fetching some pajamas from the store cupboard, but kept listening. From the sound of it, he'd been on his broom when he'd fainted, and fell. Gryffindor had lost the match, it seemed.

Mariah gave them a few minutes, then returned to his bedside with Madame Pomfrey to help with the overnight preparation. Everyone was forced to leave except Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.

The three of them talked late into the night, and Mariah left them to it, but watched interestedly. They reminded her of her own friends at Hogwarts. She remembered at least one visit to the Hospital Wing in her Sixth year just after Christmas break, where she'd eaten a prank candy meant for Sirius that had scalded her throat until she could barely speak. Lily, James, Remus, Peter, and Sirius had all visited her for hours on end, just to talk even if she couldn't.

She gave the order for Ron and Hermione to leave close to midnight. She was just packing some things away when she saw Harry staring out the window behind the bed at the forest. He did so for a while whenever she looked at him, until finally he managed to sleep. Mariah replaced his water jug, and glanced outside. Nothing moved on the shadowy grounds. It was still storming hard, and the lawns were illuminated from the few lights on in the castle just enough to see the edge of the lake.

After a good while of nothing, Mariah shook her head, and carried off to her bed for the night.


	15. Hogsmeade

**Mid-October, 1977**

"So I heard Evan's upset that you aren't taking him to the Slug Club party."

Emilie glanced up from the package of Exploding Quills she had been examining. She made brief eye contact with her friend, dropped the quills back onto their place on the shelf, and moved on to the next gaudy display. "Yeah, but the two of us haven't exactly been speaking lately, so I'm not too worried about it. Why are you bringing this up?"

Her friend quickly interested herself in a rack of Shrinking Hats. "So, you wouldn't care if someone else asked him?"

"Don't tell me Snook the Snogger's _already_ got her claws in him," Emilie said. "Honestly, you'd think he was the second coming of Christ the way she worships him, and you know, he's not even that good looking _or_ that good in bed. I'm telling you, Lottie, if Marcia Snook thinks-"

"Em,_ I_ asked him to the Slug Club party," her friend said, interrupting Emilie.

"Oh." Emilie deflated a bit, her tirade evidently misdirected. "Oh," she said again, "well, I hope you have a good time. But, really, watch out for Marcia. She's been trying to get her hands on Rosier since third year. Now," she dropped the trinket she'd pulled from the shelf and clapped her hands together, "we need to get you something to wear to the party. You are _not_ wearing that set of yellow robes again."

Lottie allowed her hand to be grabbed and Emilie to lead her from Zonko's across the street to Gladrags. The bell over the door jingled as the girls entered, and they greeted the shopkeeper before veering to the left to browse the witches' section.

After a quarter of an hour, Lottie had selected a couple of sets of new robes to try (one a bright turquoise embellished with a gaudy pink, the other a more subdued lavender lined with silver), and had retreated to a changing room, leaving Emilie browsing the racks for something for herself.

The Slytherin girl glanced up as she heard the bell over the door jingle, and she made brief eye contact with Geoffrey Mansfield as he walked in. She quickly looked away, but couldn't stop herself from glancing back up to see that not only had he not looked away, but he was actually making his way toward her. Her mouth was half open to tell him to go away when another voice cut across the shop.

"Geoff, where are you going? That's the witches' side!" Lily Evans appeared seemingly from nowhere and grabbed his arm, pulling him back towards the wizards' robes. She caught sight of Emilie and hastily redoubled her efforts to redirect the lanky redheaded wizard beside her. "Look, attacking every Slytherin you see isn't going to impress this mystery date of yours, Geoff. I know you want to pull off the tough guy thing, but let's start with getting you to _look_ the part first, okay?"

Lottie walked up beside Emilie once they had left and scoffed. "I thought Evans was into that Potter boy, not the Ginger Giant," she said. "What do you think of this one, Em? Too bright?"

"Emilie watched as her friend twirled, the hem of the turquoise robes flaring out. "It's a bit much. Try the purple one."

The afternoon wore on, the two Slytherin girls trying dress after dress, until they had each selected one to their taste. As they were paying, Emilie saw Lily trying to coax Mansfield into trying a set of robes that were a particularly violent shade of chartreuse.

"Did you see the color of those robes Evans was trying to put on Mansfield?" Lottie asked as they made their way into the Three Broomsticks and seated themselves at a table. "I can't imagine the look on his date's face when he walks in wearing those. Who's he going with, anyway? He's not in the Slug Club."

"You think I keep up with Gryffindors? What's it matter who he's going with, anyway?" Emilie avoided Lottie's eye as she flagged down Madam Rosmerta and ordered a couple of Butterbeers.

"It doesn't, I was just curious. Come to think of it, who are _you_ going with, since Evan dumped you?"

"Since Evan dumped _me_? I dumped_ him_, Lottie."

"Not the way he's telling it," Lottie said, taking a sip of her drink. "And who did you say you were going with?"

"I didn't."

"So you don't have a date? Maybe you and Mansfield should go together." Lottie dissolved into an ugly bout of laughter, but it quickly died when she realized the other girl was not laughing along. "Christ, Em, it was just a joke. Lighten up. I'm sure you'll find _someone_ to go with. There's got to be someone who doesn't have a date."

Emilie muttered an affirmative response, then the two of them lapsed into silence as the rowdy game at the next table over reached a new level of raucousness.

"Go Remus! Go! Go!" Sirius Black was yelling at the top of his lungs as Remus took aim.

A silver coin bounced off the tabletop and landed squarely in a glass a few inches away. Remus picked up his glass and poured the contents into the tankard in the center of the table, refilling it from the large Firewhiskey bottle Mariah had brought along. He looked to his left.

"Your go, Sirius," he said. The black-haired youth retrieved the coin from the center glass and took aim, tossing the coin on the table so that it ricocheted once more and landed in the tankard again.

"Score one for Padfoot," he said, pouring out his glass into the tankard and refilling it. "Wormtail, go for it!"

Peter reached out groggily and felt around for the coin inside the glass, knocking it aside in the process. Remus and Sirius laughed while the boy felt around for the coin and took aim, blinking one eye at a time and concentrating hard. He threw the coin. It bounced off the table at a hard angle and hit the man at the next table in the ear.

"You lose! Drink up, Peter!" said Remus, trying not to laugh as the straw-haired boy picked up the center tankard and leaned back, chugging its contents. After a moment he thunked the tankard back into position, swaying slightly.

"I can' play no more, you guys," he said thickly, hiccuping.

"Nonsense, Wormtail, you're doing fine," said Sirius, reaching over and picking up the boy's Firewhiskey glass. "Oi, you forgot this." Peter took the glass and tossed it back a little too forcefully. He fell backwards off the bench, hitting the floor with a loud thud and a groan. Sirius doubled over with fits of uncontrollable laughter.

"Oi… oi I can' get up!" whimpered Peter, flailing his arms limply. Remus, shaking with mirth, got up to go help him. Sirius nearly fell off the bench from laughing so hard. Mariah was pounding the table with a fist, the other hand held around her middle. Remus hauled Peter into a sitting position, but nearly fell trying to get him to stand. Mariah and Sirius laughed even harder at this, their eyes watering.

"Ok… ok I think that'll do, Remus," said Sirius weakly, wiping at his eyes. "Wormtail can stay on the floor." He coughed a few times, breaking into chuckles. "James… hey, James-your go, mate!" He leaned across the table and prodded his friend hard in the shoulder. James stopped staring out of the window and looked up.

"What?"

"Your go," repeated Sirius. "C'mon Prongs, let's do it!"

"Eh, count me out on this one, Sirius. I think I'm going to go find Lily," said James. Sirius frowned.

"What? You two can snog any old time, but this is the league championship of Sickles, mate, you need to defend your title!"

"Thanks, but I'll take snogging," said James, standing with a last wave and walking out of The Three Broomsticks.

Sirius reached across and snatched James's untouched drink away ruefully. "Fine, you tossa, snog all you want, go rent the back room at Puddlefore… Puddlemere… Puddiwhatsits."

He muttered to himself resentfully, downing the rest of James's drink as Peter moved himself slowly up onto the newly vacated bench and laid down on it.

"Showed him… showed him so good..." muttered Sirius. He thunked the glass down on the table. "Jaeger! Bring the heat!"

Mariah retrieved the coin and closed one eye for focus, bouncing it towards the glass. It hit the rim and skidded off to one side.

"Damn it..." she groaned, reaching for the tankard in the center.

"Wait," Sirius held the tankard down, tipping the bottle over it and pouring a generous amount. "Okay, now drink it." He released her hand.

"Hey, what was that for?" complained Mariah.

"That was for James's turn," said Sirius, pushing the tankard towards her mouth. "Cheers!"

Mariah downed the tankard, closing her eyes at the burning sensation scalding her throat, and brought her own glass to her lips after a moment's recovery, downing that too. She put the glass down, and Remus took a turn, landing the coin once more.

"Your go," said Mariah, looking at Sirius. The boy sighed, leaning on one elbow.

"I'm tired of this," he said.

"Oh come on, you've barely lost at all! You can't pull that!" burst Mariah.

"Yeah but Wormtail's out for the count and you're sloshed. It's too simple- the appeal is gone."

"I am not_ sloshed_!"

"You want to go check out Honeydukes?" interrupted Remus.

"No, we can go to Honeydukes any old time!" protested Sirius.

"...What?" Mariah frowned.

"What do you mean what? Oh, you don't know, that's right." Sirius massaged his brow. A loud snore came from the other side of the table where Peter had fallen asleep on the bench. Sirius slapped his hands on the table and stood abruptly, stepping out of the bench. "Come on, let's go."

"Sirius, I'm going to help Peter get back up to the castle. Somehow I don't think he can make it on his own," said Remus, shaking Peter from his sleep.

"Fine, fine, whatever, go," barked Sirius. "Come on, Mariah."

Mariah followed him out of The Three Broomsticks, and up the street. They passed the post office and Honeydukes, and Zonko's and Madame Puddifoot's at the end of the strip. Mariah glanced inside, but the only couples visible through the windows were Evan Rosier and Marcia Snook, and Frank Longbottom and Alice Prewett.

"Hey Mariah."

"What?"

"How well do you know Mansfield?"

"Not that well, why?" asked Mariah.

Sirius sighed, running a hand through his hair, walking to the fence running along the edge of the road. He leaned on it and looked out at the Shrieking Shack. "Geoff's being an idiot," he said seriously. "I keep seeing him around that Emilie snake, trying to be friendly with her, and she lets him think she's harmless. And he's always going out and provoking the Slytherins on his own!"

"You're one to talk," said Mariah.

"Yeah, but I have James and Remus, and Peter."

"True."

"_And_ I can handle myself," he added.

Mariah snorted. "Come on, when have you provoked a pack of Slytherins without James there to help you out?"

Sirius glanced at her. "Have you _seen_ my family?"

"Point taken," said Mariah, her smirk dropping. Sirius unfolded his arms and shook the fence posts in frustration.

"I just don't know what to do about _Mansfield_," he said through gritted teeth.

"Well, make sure he's not always alone, then," said Mariah. "If he gets caught on his own all the time and you're concerned, then hang out with him more. See that he has his friends around to back him up."

"Keep an eye on him..." mused Sirius, drifting into thought. After a moment he snapped out of his stupor and turned around, hopping up to sit on the fence. "Hey, so I'm planning to crash Slughorn's gig. I heard Rosier's planning the same if he doesn't get asked, but if he gets caught, we could probably go unseen. What do you say?"

"Oh..." Mariah paused. "I uh… I've already been asked to go," she said. Sirius's brow furrowed.

"Cor, by who?" he asked. Mariah paused again, but Sirius's face lit up. "Not that guy you want to snog!"

"If by guy you want to snog you mean the guy I was talking about the other night, then yes," said Mariah.

"So you don't want to snog him?"

"That's not what I mean-"

"_McClaggen_!" exclaimed Sirius. "Tiberius McClaggen!"

"No," said Mariah.

"Ambrosius Flume?"

"No!" she pulled a face.

"Ah! Ahaha!" Sirius put a hand to his mouth in mock astonishment. "Not _Barnabus Cuffe_!"

Mariah gave Sirius a very flat look. Sirius jumped down from the fence and put a hand on her shoulder, patting it affectionately.

"It's alright, Mariah, Cuffe seems like a very promising youth. But I can see why you wouldn't want to snog him."

"It's not Barnabus Cuffe!" shouted Mariah. Sirius threw his hands in the air.

"Well then I can't think of anyone you could be going with who would promise you a better time than me!" he exclaimed. "Come _on_, Mariah, no one would see us, if that's your problem!"

"What?"

"If you're scared about rule-breaking-"

"Im not scared about rule-breaking, Sirius! I'm _going_ with someone!"

"But you won't tell me who it is because you're embarrassed about me teasing you!" shot Sirius.

"I'm not telling you because it's none of your business!"

Sirius's looked angry for a moment, but then his face smoothed and he laughed, raising his arms peaceably.

"Right, right. I get it..." He stepped closer. "But really, Mariah, come on. Who are you kidding?"

"What?"

"I know you like me."

"I… That doesn't change the fact that I'm going with someone," said Mariah.

"Mariahhhhhhh," Sirius grinned, putting an arm around her. Mariah didn't say anything. Her heart was beating quite fast.

"Sirius… what are you doing?"

"Nothing," said Sirius, leaning in and kissing her.

Mariah felt a whirl of confusion helped profusely by the alcohol she had just consumed. She felt her brain fill with electricity as Sirius's hands pulled her in closer to him. His lips were warm, and he tasted like Firewhiskey. He needed to shave. The roughness of his face moved against her cheek. Mariah closed her eyes, and Sirius's lips met her own once more, then pulled away. She looked at him, and saw that he was grinning again.

"Now was that so bad?" He moved his face in closer. Mariah felt his face brush against her cheek as he whispered in her ear. "Have you ever seen the inside of the Shrieking Shack before?"

"Sirius..." Mariah met his gaze as he pulled back to look at her. She tried to find the words, but her insides, now empty of their butterflies, were tightening into knots that were hard to ignore. She closed her eyes. The absence of his eyes allowed her to think a little more clearly. "Not now..."

"Then another time," said Sirius softly. "_Go with me..._"

Mariah wanted to say yes. She had never heard Sirius sound like this. His voice was different, and she wanted to listen, but the knots in her stomach were stiffening her resolve.

Mariah put a hand up to Sirius's chest and pushed him away slowly.

"I can't," she said. Sirius rolled his eyes, and his voice lost its softness.

"_Why not_?" he barked. "Who_ is_ this guy?"

"Sirius, you're drunk," said Mariah, feeling the buzz throb in her own head.

"I'm not drunk!" shot Sirius, turning on his heel. He stumbled over his feet suddenly, falling back onto the ground. Mariah hurried over.

"Are you al-"

"Yeah yeah." Sirius struggled to get to his feet, overbalancing and tipping over to the side. Mariah grabbed his arm and hauled him up.

"Stop it, Sirius, you're being ridic-"

"Get off!" Sirius shook her off and headed back down the hill, muttering something about finding James.

Mariah leaned back on the fence, holding her hands to her mouth. She watched Sirius's retreating figure, and let out a long-held breath.


	16. The Skirmish

Emilie and Lottie had left the Leaky Cauldron not long after the Gryffindors had started their game of Sickles, but the girls quickly separated, Lottie joining a group of sixth-years who were heading back to the castle, Emilie drifting back towards the main street.

She stopped in front of Honeydukes, and the warm glow from the candy shop bathed her face in a golden light as she peered in through the window at the array of sweets. A hand reached across a display of cauldron cakes to pick up a bundle of licorice wands before returning briefly to snatch up the only acid pop in the display. Just as she was debating whether or not she should go and buy a box of sugar quills she had been eying through the pane of glass, Emilie heard a tapping on the window and looked up to see Geoff waving at her, a large square box tucked under his free arm labeled 'Gladrags' that was identical to the one she was carrying.

She fervently hoped he had not bought the chartreuse robes.

The bell over the door to Honeydukes jingled and the lanky Gryffindor was suddenly in the street beside her. "They're blue," he said. "My new robes, I mean. What about yours?"

"Silver," she said.

His expression brightened considerably. "Mine have silver lining," he said. "Just imagine Rosier's face when he sees us matching."

"_Delacroix_!"

As one, they turned to see Rosier emerging from Madame Puddifoot's, one arm around Marcia Snook's waist.

"I know you're upset that we broke up, but you could have picked a better rebound than _this_," he said. "Even _Snape_ would be disgusted with you, and _he_'s all caught up on_ Evans_."

"Evans?" James and Lily had suddenly appeared from behind the dumpster beside the Three Broomsticks. Lily looked rather disheveled. "What'd you say about my girlfriend, Rosier?"

"Stay out of this, Potter! It's none of your business," spat Rosier, flustered at this interruption. James whipped out his wand.

"If you're talking about my girlfriend, I'd say it is my business."

"If anything it's my business," said Lily, rolling her eyes. She tugged at James's elbow. "Come on, it's not worth it."

James followed her lead warily, lowering his wand. They were three steps back towards the High Street when Rosier added. "Listen to your Mudblood whore, then, she's a smart girl. Take this mudwallower with you while you're at it." He kicked a loose clod of mud upwards into Geoff's face.

"_Stupefy_!"

Rosier was knocked off his feet by the jet of light that shot from Geoff's wand, and Marcia had pulled her own wand from the pocket of her robes in the next instant. In another flash of light, Marcia was disarmed, her wand flying neatly into Emilie's hand. Geoff was crouched low over Rosier, his wand dangerously close to poking the other boy in the eye.

"Never - call - me - a - mudwallower - again," he snarled through bared teeth.

Another flash of light, and Geoff's wand was jerked from his hand by an invisible force. He turned to see Snape rushing toward the group. He stood and backed away from Rosier, hands held palm-out in front of him to show he was unarmed.

Emilie's box from Gladrags fell to the ground as she rushed at Snape in an attempt to snatch back Geoff's wand, but in another flash of light, she was dangling in the air by her ankle, her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. She began firing spells indiscriminately, sending any nonverbal spell that came to mind at both Geoff and the other Slytherins.

Rosier deflected one of her spells, sending it flying in Snape's direction, and half a dozen black bats came flying out of the greasy-haired boy's hooked nose. Marcia Snook went down with a well-aimed Jelly-Legs Jinx. Geoff succumbed to a Cheering Charm and gleefully sent a Bedazzling Hex at James, who found himself covered head to toe in glittering rhinestones before retaliating with a Finger-Removing Jinx, causing Geoff's wand to clatter out of his fingerless hands and onto the cobblestones.

Another of Emilie's haphazard nonverbal spells went sailing in Rosier's direction, and he found himself scuttling around in the chaos, antennae protruding from his dark hair. Marcia Snook managed to get her wand in the chaos of her jumbled legs and shot a hex at Lily that barely missed her ear. With a strangled yell and a shower of stunning spells, Sirius leapt into the fray, immediately tackling Snape, who dislodged himself by quickly hitting Sirius with a hex that made a heavy green slime start sprouting from his pores.

Snape then was hit by a Hurling Hex. James had rid himself of most of his Bedazzlement and was charging Snape with one glittery arm raised. Snape blocked his next shot and shot something of his own that missed James by a hair. James swung to retaliate, but Snape was stunned by Lily before he could get a shot.

"Nice! Thanks!" said James, grinning. Lily opened her mouth to reply, but was suddenly struck from behind. She fell flat and James whirled around to face Rabastan Lestrange. Sirius managed to trip Rabastan with one jellied leg and he fell face first onto the scuttling Rosier. James began dueling Rodolphus Lestrange, who had taken the place of his brother without batting an eye, and Sirius was struggling to keep a grip on his wand as Kurt Lovell approached him from the mouth of the alley where the Lestranges had appeared. James dodged a hex from Rodolphus that ricochet out of the Alley and hit Mariah square in the face as she rounded the corner, knocking her flat.

"THAT IS ENOUGH!"

Wands flew from everyone's hands to the other end of the alley where Professor McGonagall stood tight-lipped and furious, wand out, observing the chaos before her with disappointment etched in every line of her face.


	17. Punishment

The entire school knew about the incident within a matter of hours, and as the week progressed, it became the center of conversation. Rumors ran rampant amongst the students, debating the cause of the battle, the people involved, and Dumbledore's reaction. Some seemed to be under the impression that the Headmaster had given Filch permission to bring back corporal punishment, and had the guilty students hanging by their thumbs in the dungeons every night. Some believed that Death Eaters had appeared to back up the Slytherin students, but these concerns were quickly dispelled by frustrated teachers.

In truth, McGonagall had marched the lot of them straight up to Dumbledore's office.

The headmaster had seated himself behind his desk and looked at all of them for a moment over his half-moon spectacles. "I'm sure I don't need to tell any of you how gravely disappointed I am. I am well aware that tensions have been mounting these past years, but an all-out brawl in the middle of Hogsmeade is unacceptable. I do not know who started the fight, nor do I wish to know. All of you are to be punished equally." He paused for a moment to adjust the placement of one of the delicate silver instruments resting on his desk. "Given the circumstances, the school is the safest place for all of you and for your classmates. To preserve this safety net, we ask simply that you try to get along with one another, if not for your sake, then for your friends'. For your younger classmates'." He turned to look at McGonagall. "I understand their wands were confiscated?"

"Yes, headmaster," she said. She drew from her robes a bundle of wands that had been bound together and handed them to him.

He unbound them and laid them on his desk, raising each one and inspecting it closely before setting it back down. "Your wands will be held in my care until the end of the week to avoid any further incidents. You will be provided with alternative assignments for any practical lessons your professors choose to give until then. In addition, you will all assist our kitchen staff with cleaning up after dinner each night this week - including the feast on Wednesday - and-"

"But, Professor, the Slug Club party is Wednesday!" Rosier interjected.

"-_and_ you will be banned from all future Hogsmeade visits." He gave Rosier a disapproving look. "I'm well aware that Professor Slughorn has planned a Halloween party for several of his students and alumni, but I'm sure you're aware, Mister Rosier, that missing the festivities is part of your punishment. However, if you happen to finish your duties in the kitchen quickly, there is no reason why you shouldn't be able to attend."

"Professor, I really think none of them should be allowed to attend," McGonagall said, to which a strangled cry of protest had gone up from several of the students. "I think it would help to drive home the point that they are being punished."

Dumbledore considered this for a moment, tapping the side of his crooked nose with a spindly finger. "Yes, Minerva, I see your point," he said at last, "but a bit of monitored festivity might do them some good."

McGonagall made a face that clearly said she disapproved of his reasoning, but kept her lips pressed firmly together and said nothing.

"Now-" Dumbledore had clapped his hands together and leaned back in his chair. "-I believe that settles everything? All of you are to go straight back to your dormitories. If I hear word of any skirmishes between here and there, rest assured that the ones involved will find themselves on the train home tomorrow morning. Off to bed with you." He had waved them off, and set about storing their wands carefully in one of the drawers of his desk.

More than a few Howlers graced breakfast in the Great Hall that week, including a rather embarrassing occurrence in which Rosier's grandmother burst into tears halfway through her lecture. Mariah had almost died of shame when her father sent her a howler with obviously no idea of how it worked.

"IS IT RECORDING? DAMN THING… I'M NOT SURE HOW THIS IS SUPPOSED TO GO - THE MAN AT THE SHOP WASN'T HELPFUL AT ALL, BUT I FOUND IT IN THE ANGRY PARENT SECTION AND THOUGHT IT WOULD BE APPROPRIATE. OH, AND MARI, I MANAGED TO FIND MY WAY TO DIAGON ALLEY BY MYSELF - WITH NO MAGIC INVOLVED AT ALL! HOW'S THAT FOR MUGGLE INNOVATION, AYE? WELL, TOM DID OPEN THE GATE FOR ME, AND IT TOOK A BLOODY LONG TIME FOR ME TO FIND THE DOOR TO THE LEAKY CAULDRON, BUT I MADE IT IN THE END. IT WAS TERRIBLY EXCITING!"

Mariah grabbed the letter as the hall erupted with laughter and, trying to block the sound of her father's booming voice from her ears, ran it out of the hall and out onto the grounds with the intent of tossing it in the lake.

But the worst was probably the howler Sirius received from his mother. It arrived that Tuesday, late at dinner, as a large, regal-looking eagle owl dropped the crimson envelope squarely in front of him. Sirius pushed it calmly off of his plate with his fork and continued eating as though there had been no interruption. The others watched him warily.

"You'll have to open it," said Lily.

"Open what?" asked Sirius lightly, drinking from his goblet.

"It's going to explode otherwise," Remus pointed out.

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Sirius. The envelope began to smoke at the corners. Surrounding students grabbed their dishes and slid them out of the way while Sirius continued his meal as if nothing was wrong.

All at once the howler exploded in a burst of flames, and a shrill, scathing voice echoed off the walls.

"FILTHY BLOOD-TRAITOR! YOU ARE A COWARD, AND A DISGRACE TO THE NOBLE AND MOST ANCIENT HOUSE OF BLACK! ASSISTING THOSE MUDBLOODS AND BLOOD-TRAITORS AGAINST YOUR OWN HOUSE! HOW DARE YOU TURN YOUR BACK ON THE HOUSE OF MY FATHERS - THE HOUSE OF _YOUR_ FATHERS! HOW _DARE_ YOU SHAME US! YOU WOULD THROW AWAY THE PURE WIZARD BLOOD IN YOUR VEINS - THE PRIDE OF OUR FAMILY - FOR A FEW IDIOT MUGGLE-BORNS! AS LONG AS YOU PERSIST IN ASSOCIATING WITH THESE SCUM, DON'T BOTHER COMING HOME!"

It would have been appropriate for the last word to be punctuated by another explosion, but the ringing silence that filled the Great Hall in Mrs. Black's absence was far more terrible. All eyes were on Sirius.

He was eating still. His calm demeanor would have been convincing were it not for the flush of his face and the tense set of his jaw. His knuckles were white where he was clutching his fork harder than was necessary. Gradually the Hall fell back to hushed conversation that slowly gained in volume. Sirius downed his goblet and went back to prodding the contents of his plate with his fork.

"Give us some more pumpkin juice, Moony, will you?" he asked.

"Sirius..." started Remus, passing the pitcher over, but Sirius cut him off.

"Oi, James, think your parents will mind if I show up at Christmas?" he asked, not looking up.

"Sure," said James, leaning forward. "You alright, mate?" he added softly.

"Never better," said Sirius, replacing the pitcher on top of the smoking remains of the howler and smirking at his friend. Mariah saw that his knuckles were still clenched. His eyes met hers as he tipped his goblet back, and she looked away quickly, feeling embarrassed. They hadn't spoken since that day on the hill. The next morning when the chaos of the fight had worn off completely, everything had come flooding back, and she hadn't been able to bring herself to confront him, let alone talk to him casually.

Dinner ended, and while the students filed out and returned to their common rooms, those under suspension diverted from the crowd and made their way down to the kitchens behind the large portrait of a bowl of fruit where their punishment was to be served. Immediately upon entering, the crowds of house elves squealed and rushed over, bowing and curtseying, eager to serve their guests.

"Dumbledore's said no special treatment will be given!" barked Filch, who oversaw their punishment personally, his cat Mrs. Norris weaving between the house elves' legs to sit at the feet of each student and stare up at them as they worked. The house elves retreated, disappointed and, in some cases, uncertain or frightened. A few vanished into back closets to punish themselves, but the students paid them no mind as they washed and dried.

They had been appointed to dish duty, the Gryffindors washing and drying, and the Slytherins putting away. The separation had been put into action in order to prevent further scuffles, and so far there had been none. No talking was allowed, but of course nobody paid attention to that rule, as the house elves' chattering covered up anything they said.

Mariah was rubbing plates dry with a dishrag and handing them off to the Slytherins. The Marauders were strictly sink duty for safety reasons. Kurt walked over and took a stack of plates, pulling a face as their eyes met. Mariah snorted and watched him walk, grinning, back across the room. Lily glanced at her and she straightened her face, taking another wet dish and drying it off.

"'Scuse me," Remus edged in between them suddenly.

"Remus what are you doing?" asked Mariah, frowning. "Hey!" He took the dish she was holding along with the rag and took her place. "Why did you-"

"Hey, c'mere," said Sirius's voice behind her, and she felt a hand grasp her arm, pulling her back over by the sink. They glanced over at Filch, who was looking elsewhere, before turning back to each other.

"Look..." Sirius ran a hand through his hair, "about the other day-"

"Don't worry about it," said Mariah, taking up a dishrag and setting to work.

"What I mean is, I'm sorry," said Sirius.

"Don't worry about it," repeated Mariah. "You were drunk, I was drunk. Things happen."

"No..." Sirius gripped her wrist, stopping her as she moved to get another dish. "No, you're my friend, though, I shouldn't've-"

"Sirius, it's _fine_," said Mariah softly, looking at him.

"And I'm sorry for asking you over and over about-"

"Forget it."

"I shouldn't have-"

"Sirius I am going to stuff this rag in your mouth if you don't stop talking right now, and I just soaped it up so it'll be really unpleasant. I'm warning you," said Mariah, holding up the rag threateningly.

A smirk worked its way through Sirius's frown, and he turned back to the sink, taking up the other rag. "God… wands gone for three days already… what a nightmare."

"S'alright," said Mariah. "Reminds me of back when I used to be a normal kid."

"Yeah, well, for me it's torture," grumbled Sirius. "And you were never a normal kid." He picked up a foodstained plate and pulled a face. "This would be done in no time with magic..."

"Scared of a little scum, aye, rich boy?" sneered Mariah.

Sirius grabbed the sponge and tossed it up in her face. "Scared of a little soap, aye, dirt monster?"

"THIS. IS. NOT. _SOCIAL HOUR_! THIS IS_ PUNISHMENT_!" barked Filch from across the room. "_PUNISHMENT_!"


	18. Christmas, 1993

**December 25, 1993**

The castle was never more cheery, and never more empty, than it was during the Christmas holidays. For the first time since arriving at Hogwarts, Mariah found herself free to wander the castle free of schedule. Madam Pomfrey had had her merely changing bed linens and managing supplies at first, but after a while had conceded to Mariah's skill level and counted her in on the nursing administration to students. There was even a promise in the upcoming year of more active work as far as the medical potions were concerned. But for the holidays, neither Madam Pomfrey nor Mariah was needed on deck at all times, and Poppy had given her leave to spend her days outside of the Hospital Wing.

She had spent most of her time with Remus in his office, as he was catching up on the work he had missed after his most recent full moon. Geoff stopped by a good amount, but was splitting his time between his academic duties and following his daughter around the snowy lawn building snowmen and snowwomen and snowppogriffs in a large snowvillage near the banks of the lake. Two days into the break had Remus looking far healthier than he had, though a bit pale behind the tall stack of papers he still needed to grade.

"I don't envy you," said Mariah, grinning from behind her mug of butterbeer as Remus pulled down another scroll and stretched it on the desk. "What a way to spend your Christmas..."

"It's a small price to pay for employment," he said, squinting at the tiny scrawl. Mariah scooted a second chair closer and propped her feet up.

"Usually I work overtime at Christmas. There's always an odd mashup of prank gifts going wrong and family arguments ending badly, but we've not had anyone come in at all. Except Trelawney, and that was odd. She stopped by to tell us we needed to get a bed ready for Potter."

Remus glanced up. "Why?"

"Dunno. Poppy gave her some excuse, but she told me McGonagall told her that Trelawney's been hounding Harry about dying all year."

Remus snorted, the ghost of a grin flashing across his face. "If there was any safe bet on a student being in danger, Harry would be the one to pick."

"If he doesn't sort out that Dementor problem soon, I might wonder if he won't faint off the roof next," muttered Mariah

"He came to me about that. He wants to learn to protect himself," said Remus.

Mariah raised her eyebrows, taking another swig of butterbeer. "And how are you going to accomplish that?" she asked.

"Not sure yet, but I've got a week to think it over," said Remus.

"That'll be good though, getting to know him," said Mariah, tipping her bottle at him.

Remus didn't nod. "He told me that when the Dementors get near him, and when he faints, he can hear Lily."

Mariah's smile slid off of her face, and there was the sound of trickling liquid as her grip on the bottle went slack and almost tipped completely sideways.

"He can hear her? But how can he hear her?" she asked a bit strongly.

"I think… it's a memory," said Remus, "from when he was a baby."

Mariah sat back in her chair, the bottle forgotten between her fingers. "Fuck..."

Remus got out of his seat and rounded the desk, putting a hand on Mariah's shoulder. She covered it with her own hand.

"I miss her," she said.

"I do too," said Remus.

"I can only imagine what that does to him… no wonder he faints." Mariah sighed. "Remus, why did we fall out like we did? Why did everyone just scatter?"

"I don't know," Remus dropped his hand and sat on his desk facing her, the papers forgotten. "There was just too much that happened. All at once."

"Do you have anyone at all?" asked Mariah, looking at him.

Remus shook his head. "My parents passed away shortly after the war." He looked at her. "What about you?"

"My brother's got a family and kids, but I don't see them," said Mariah. "You know I spent so long trying to make friends here, it just seems so unfair that I should lose all of them in a single night."

"You haven't lost all of them," said Remus.

Mariah shook her head. "I should have gone looking for you. You and Geoff were the only ones left..."

"Geoff had his own problems to deal with, and neither of us knew how far he was willing to go for Emilie at the time, especially with his kids as young as they were. As for me… well, I know what you were all thinking."

"It's in the past," said Mariah. "We should have never thought it in the first place. You were always a reliable friend to all of us."

Remus smiled thinly. "Most of the time," he said.

"Yes, well, don't bring the mood down," said Mariah, taking a drink from her bottle only to find it empty. She looked at the floor and quickly set her wand to vanishing the butterbeer puddle that was creeping towards her chair legs.

Remus watched her. "What I really don't understand is why you're not married now," he said. "Last time I saw you, you were engaged."

"I broke it off," said Mariah after a moment. "It was sort of last-minute. He's gone and married Evaleen Fincher." She paused. "He came by the day after Sirius escaped."

Remus's eyebrows rose. "He didn't think you were involved?"

"He's head of the investigation," said Mariah. "I've been… rather restless, and I never live in the same place for too long. It seems he had a high enough job that he could poke around St. Mungo's asking questions. He came by with a contract I had to sign saying that I hadn't had any contact with Sirius and that I would do nothing to try to help him should he come knocking." Mariah rolled her eyes. "Then I found out it was only me that had to sign it. He's a tricky bastard, he probably convinced Fudge that I was the biggest suspect for assistance… as if I would..."

"Evaleen Fincher..." Remus was thinking. "I don't remember her being too pleasant. She was almost as bad as Bertha Jorkins with her gossip."

"I think she works for the _Daily Prophet_ now," said Mariah.

Remus raised his eyebrows. "Well that's convenient." He checked his watch. "It's almost dinnertime."

"We'd better go down, then," said Mariah, standing. "All these flashbacks are giving me chills. Let's go down to the village tonight, what do you say? Let's go out."

Remus laughed and shook his head, gesturing at the small mountain of parchment.

"Do you not see how much work I have left? And besides, I don't think I will be very well tonight..."

"Ah, damn," said Mariah. "Has Snape given you the potion, then?"

"Came in this morning," said Remus.

"Well are you coming down for lunch?" asked Mariah.

Remus shook his head. "I think I might stay here and work until I need to rest again," he said.

"It's Christmas, Lupin, don't be such a bedwetter about it," said Mariah.

"A bedwetter?"

"Yes, a bedwetter."

"Says the girl who once drank so much in one night that-"

"Careful, Remus, I still know how to hex with the best of them," warned Mariah. "I thought we made a pact not to talk about that night. As I recall, a certain someone thought confessing his love to Heather Moss at three in the morning after six butterbeers and a bottle of Ogden's Old Firewhiskey was a solid plan, and instead of Heather answering the door it was Natalie Hornby, and you screamed at her-"

"Let's not break that pact, now," said Remus quickly. "Now go on or you'll be eating alone on Christmas."

"You sure you don't want to come?"

"Positive," said Remus. "I don't think I could eat anything that wasn't bleeding or running from me at full speed," he added shortly.

"You're a real pick-me-up, you know that?" said Mariah, rolling her eyes as she left his office to make her way down to the Great Hall.

Twelve fully bedecked Christmas trees stood throughout the hall, all surrounding a single table that had been placed at the center. Dumbledore sat with Professors Snape, McGonagall, Sprout, and Flitwick, as well as Geoff and his children Joel and Sarah, and Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger. Mariah took her place on Dumbledore's other side, away from Snape, as Dumbledore adjusted a large hat topped with a stuffed vulture on his head.

"Merry Christmas, Nurse Jaeger," Dumbledore greeted her cheerfully.

"Merry Christmas, Headmaster," replied Mariah, trying not to smile at the hat. She noticed that Snape was watching her with a very stony expression and dropped her eyes to her plate.

"I don't know if you've formally been introduced," said Dumbledore, gesturing at Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Nurse Jaeger, these are Miss Hermione Granger, Mr. Ronald Weasley, and Mr. Harry Potter. This is Nurse Mariah Jaeger, of St. Mungo's. She's been providing Madam Pomfrey with a little additional assistance in the Hospital Wing this year."

"I'm sure I've seen the three of you running around the castle," said Mariah, glancing at the scar on Harry's forehead. "Poppy says you're in and out of the Hospital Wing every year like tenants."

"Not _every_ year," muttered Ron.

"I understand. I was a Gryffindor, too, once," said Mariah, grinning. She noticed Harry's eyes on her, and glanced at him, but he looked away. She heard him mutter something to Ron, and he stared at her, too. At that moment Professor Trelawney entered the Hall, and Dumbledore greeted her loudly. Mariah glanced once more at Harry, and went back to her plate.

"Remus didn't want to join us for lunch, Mariah?" Geoff asked around a mouthful of pudding.

"He's not feeling well," she answered.

"That's a shame, to be sick on Christmas." He pointed his spoon accusingly at Mariah. "He's not just pretending so that he can hole up in his office with all his paperwork, is he?"

She laughed. "No, actually, he's sick as a dog. I left him with some of Poppy's famous Pepper-Up Potion."

"He'll be right as rain tomorrow, I'm sure," Dumbledore said brightly. "Ms. Granger, have you looked into becoming a healer? I daresay you could be a good fit for St. Mungo's one day... Mr. Mansfield, would you care for another cracker?"

Joel set his goblet of pumpkin juice down on the table and accepted the end of the offered cracker. With a loud pop and a puff of smoke, the cracker exploded to reveal a live squirrel, an oversized sombrero, and a miniature top hat. Dumbledore clapped his hands and beamed, snatching up the top hat and setting it on the head of the stuffed vulture perched on his own hat. Joel looked dubiously at the sombrero, but his sister quickly snatched it up and dropped it onto his head.

"I'll run up there later and see if Remus needs any help with his grindylow while he's under the weather," Geoff said, dipping his spoon back into his pudding.

"Falling ill on the full moon is a sure sign of imminent catastrophe," Trelawney said from her place across from Dumbledore. She ignored Hermione's derisive snort. "My tea leaves this morning told me there would be an empty seat at our table. I do hope it's nothing serious."

Trelawney's mention of Lupin's imminent doom triggered something in Harry - her own prediction of his forthcoming demise. "Professor Mansfield?" he asked. "I was wondering - is the Grim a real magical creature? I mean, do people really die after they see it?"

Trelawney drew her shawls closer about her shoulders and clutched at her heart at the mention of the beast. Hermione rolled her eyes, and Sarah clapped a hand over her mouth in horror. Ron promptly began reminding him of his Uncle Bilius.

Professor Mansfield raised his eyebrows in amusement, and for a moment, Harry thought he might laugh at him, but instead, he just said, "No, it's just a myth. Some people might die from fright if they believe in such things, but there's no proof of an actual beast that brings death with it. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason. I've just seen a big dog around a couple of times," Harry answered, shrugging as he reached for his pumpkin juice. Over the rim of his goblet, he saw Professor Mansfield's face pale. "But the Grim is just a myth, though, right?"

"Yes," he said. "Just a myth. Nothing to worry about." He tried to give Harry a reassuring smile, but faltered, concerned that the dog Harry had seen roaming around was not a dog at all. "I think I'll go upstairs and see if Remus needs help with his grindylow," Geoff said, swinging a leg over the long bench. The Grim was nothing to be worried about, true enough, but a fully grown werewolf, on the other hand... That was a real problem.

Two hours later, finished with Christmas dinner and still wearing their party hats, Harry and Ron got up first from the table and Professor Trelawney screamed.

"My dears! Which of you left his seat first? Which?"

"Dunno," said Ron, looking uneasily at Harry.

"I doubt it will make much difference," said Professor McGonagall coldly, "unless a mad axe-man is waiting outside the doors to slaughter the first into the entrance hall."

Everyone laughed. Professor Trelawney looked highly affronted.

"Coming?" Harry said to Hermione.

"No," Hermione muttered, "I want a quick word with Professor McGonagall."

"Probably trying to see if she can take any more classes," yawned Ron as they made their way into the entrance hall, which was completely devoid of mad axe-men. "What was it you were trying to say at the table?"

"It's that Nurse Jaeger," said Harry. "I've seen her in a picture of my parents."

"What?" said Ron, glancing back at the Great Hall. "Huh...she would be about as old, wouldn't she. That would explain why she's always hanging around with Lupin. Knows him from school, doesn't he?"

"Thing is, Black was in the picture with them," said Harry. Ron's eyes grew wide.

"What do you mean?"

"He was best man at their wedding," said Harry, his voice faltering a little. "She must have been my mother's maid of honor."

"Harry..." Ron sounded like the words were just out of reach. "I...look, it's Christmas. Let's go look at the Firebolt some more! Who knows, maybe she sent it. C'mon, c'mon."

And with the promise of his new broomstick driving the dark thoughts out of his head, Harry followed Ron up the stairs and back to the Gryffindor Common Room.


	19. First Date

**October 31, 1977**

"Mansfield and Delacroix are _what_?" gawked Sirius.

"They're going to Slughorn's party together," murmured Peter. "I heard him talking to her after-"

"Like hell they are!" scoffed Sirius.

"Mr. Black, I'm afraid that's five points from Gryffindor for swearing in class," said Professor Flitwick. The four Gryffindors glowered and looked back down at their books.

"That Delacroix is up to something..." muttered Sirius.

"She's become really unpopular with the Slytherins lately," said Mariah. "I think she broke up with Rosier. Or Rosier broke up with her. He was originally going with that Lottie whatserface but she caught him with his tongue halfway down Marcia Snook's throat in a broom closet and broke it off."

"How do you know all this?" asked Sirius, frowning.

Mariah shrugged. "I overheard Lottie complaining about Rosier wanting to go to the Slug Club party more than he wanted to be with her," she said. "She was saying that soon there wouldn't be anyone left to ask but Snape who's in the club."

"Yeah, well Snivellus is so desperate, he'd go with anyone," Sirius cut in.

"He is going," said Mariah. "To Slughorn's. She ended up asking him."

"Dammit, even Snivellus is going!?" hissed Sirius.

"Mr. Black! Another five points, I think!" called Professor Flitwick, sounding miffed.

Sirius lay his head on the desk. "How the hell did Snivelly get a ticket..."

"He's in the Slug Club," piped up Peter. "He didn't need one."

"Still… he has a date. That's bloody insulting..." Sirius shook his head. "That's it, I'm gate-crashing. James can lend me the cloak, but I'm getting in there one way or another." He grinned. "And maybe I can mess with Rosier's prospects a little..."

"I wouldn't push your luck, Padfoot," said Remus, speaking up at last.

"Yeah," said Mariah. "After suspension, they could expel you for gate-crashing."

"Oh please, I won't get caught."

"For your sake, I hope not," muttered Mariah.

The bell rang and they stowed their books away in their bags, making their way out of the classroom to prepare for dinner. Mariah followed the three boys through the halls. Something caught her eye and she glanced to the side, seeing Kurt by a pillar, looking at her.

"You two go ahead, I'll catch up with you later," she said.

"What? Where are you going?" asked Sirius.

"Nowhere, I'll just see you," said Mariah, turning and walking back. Glancing back, she made sure they were gone before turning and walking straight to the pillar, smiling at Kurt. He smirked back, taking her hands as she reached him.

"Tough day?" he asked.

"Ooh, dreadful," said Mariah sarcastically.

"Tonight's the night," said Kurt. "Shall we say nine, then?"

"Nine for what?"

"Nine for bailing on kitchen duty for bigger and better things," said Kurt.

Mariah's smile flickered. "Oh… well, do… do you think we could meet up by the spiral staircase instead?"

"Why?" asked Kurt. Mariah looked uncomfortable, and after a moment Kurt's smile faded. His hands left hers and he leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms. "Is this about how you don't want to be seen with me?"

"Oh, don't be like that. Look, they're not the biggest fans of Slytherin and I_ know_ that when they find out we're going together they'll be upset and I… I just don't want that to happen until after the party."

"Hold up… what do you mean 'when they find out we're together'? Are you saying you haven't told your friends?"

"I… Kurt, you know my friends," said Mariah.

"And you know mine! Neither of us as well as we should, but we understand what we're dealing with. The day you said yes to me, I marched back to my common room and announced it to all of them. Avery, Mulciber, Rodolphus, Rabastan… all of them. Have you told_ anyone_?"

"Lily knows," said Mariah softly.

"Did you tell her, or is she just assuming?" asked Kurt.

Mariah frowned. "I told her that night, give me some credit." She crossed her arms, leaning against the wall. "But I told her not to tell James."

Kurt looked at her, sighing, and uncrossed his arms, running one hand through his hair.

"How about this. Tonight will be our first date," he said. "If it's terrible, you can toss me away and have nothing more to do with me. But if things go well, I want you to know that I'm willing to take this further." He looked her in the eye.

Mariah hesitated. "Yeah, okay," she said.

Kurt smiled again. "What are you doing right now?" he asked.

"Um, nothing, I was just going to drop off my bag before dinner," said Mariah.

"Let's go for a walk," said Kurt, jerking his head towards the lake. Mariah nodded. Kurt held out his hand, but Mariah followed him without taking it, stuffing her own hands in her pockets.

They walked out onto the grounds, now dark in the failing light, strolling down towards the lake. It was chilly, but not truly cold, and their breaths rose in mist before them. The grounds were empty but for a few students lazing about as they were in their free period before dinner. When they had cleared the steps to the Entrance Hall, Mariah slowed her pace and allowed her fingers to link with Kurt's.

They rounded the lake three times, and when it came time for dinner, neither of them felt like leaving. They walked the grounds for another hour or so before returning up to the school for the feast, following the light from the windows as the grounds turned black with the night. Mariah's hand was in Kurt's, and they didn't release them when they entered the castle.


	20. The Party

After the last of the food from the Halloween feast had been cleared away that night, the dishwashers traipsed down to the kitchens and set about their work. Filch seemed as unhappy to be stuck there as the rest of them, muttering something under his breath about hooligans and their Halloween shenanigans. During one of his strings of muttering to his cat, James and Sirius managed to finagle the House Elves into speeding things along - it wasn't going against Dumbledore's orders, they said, as it wouldn't necessarily be special treatment, just helping things to move a little faster. The House Elves were, as always, eager to please, and began helping with the dishes whenever Filch turned his back.

By a quarter to nine, the dishes were cleaned, dried, and put away, much to Filch's mystification. Try as he might, he couldn't find a reason to detain the students any longer, and they were free to go, hurrying back to their dormitories to change into dress robes and head to the fifth floor.

The party was already well underway when Emilie and Geoff reached the banquet hall and handed their invitations to the goblin at the door. Students who hadn't quite met the criteria for Slug Club membership and had failed to secure a date were walking around in smart uniforms, bearing trays of hors d'oeuvres and drinks. A band dressed in robes orange enough to disgrace the Chudley Cannons was set up in the corner, playing something that sounded suspiciously like "Whiter Shade of Pale," and several couples - made up mostly of Hufflepuffs - were shuffling their way back and forth across the parquet dance floor.

Emilie began to reach for a glass of something bubbly on a passing server's tray, but Geoff was already tugging her toward the dance floor to join the Hufflepuffs, and the drink was out of reach a moment later.

"Never would have guessed you were a dancer," she said as he put a hand on her waist.

"I'm full of surprises," he answered, grinning.

Sneaking through a crowded party under the invisibility cloak turned out to be a lot more easily said than done. Sirius pressed himself against the wall, holding in his breath as Slughorn passed by mere inches away from him, chortling at something Barnabus Cuffe had just said. He sighed in relief, but remained by the wall, scouting the room.

Lily and James swaying to the band's up-tempo samba - no surprise there. Snivellus moping in a corner - even less of a surprise. He made a mental note to knock a waiter into the gloomy boy before the evening was done. Regulus trying to chat up Marlene McKinnon - that little shit. Geoff pulling his date onto the dance floor - Sirius paused, staring for a moment. Peter had mentioned that Geoff was coming to the party with Emilie Delacroix, but he had never believed it. A frown creased the Black boy's handsome face as he narrowed his eyes at them, trying to figure out what the Slytherin girl's angle could possibly be. After a moment, he shrugged it off, turning his attention elsewhere, and a smirk replaced his frown as he saw an opportunity.

Evan Rosier and Marcia Snook were hidden behind some airy curtains, their silhouettes pressed close together beneath the twinkling fairy lights Slughorn had hung above the windows. Sirius spotted a Jack-O-Lantern on the wall that was spouting iridescent smoke bats at regular intervals. He quickly stole over and snatched the pumpkin from the wall, stuffing it under the cloak and creeping back along the wall to Rosier and Snook's alcove. He dodged a few Ravenclaws and crouched down by the curtains, waiting for the pumpkin to spew once before sliding it under right between Snook the Snogger's legs.

"Evan, that's my foot," mumbled Marcia as Sirius accidentally guided the pumpkin past her heel. Rosier didn't respond, his mouth busy working at Marcia's neck as his fingers fumbled with the front of her robes. Sirius stepped out of the way and looked back just in time to see a flood of bats burst from the Jack-O-Lantern, heading right up the girl's skirt. She screamed in Rosier's face and he jumped, grabbing the curtains as his feet tangled in the girl's and ripping them down. Sirius had both hands clamped over his mouth to keep quiet as the band's latest song screeched to a halt and everyone in the room turned to look at the disturbance.

"What happened? What's the matter?" Slughorn frowned. "See here, I don't believe I invited you, Mr. Rosewood. _Or_ you, Miss Snark..."

Sirius snickered silently to himself, watching as Filch appeared from the shadows to drag the two gate-crashers away, but jumped when he heard his name.

"-told me they'd be crashing." Mariah's voice.

He turned, clutching the cloak tighter. Sure enough, there she stood, sipping at a glass of something luminescent and orange, watching Rosier and his date get hauled away. There was no one near her except her date. He could easily sneak up behind and scare her. Maybe bump into her and make her spill her drink, or shout in her ear. Or he could knock her into her date. Sirius switched his gaze to the boy she was with, eager to see...

"Yeah, he's sore about Emilie dumping him. I'd heard he was coming with one of her friends, but I guess he decided Snook was a safer bet."

Sirius gaped, incredulous. Kurt Lovell? She'd really gone with _Kurt Lovell_? A _Slytherin_?

The pit of his stomach dropped, and he suddenly felt the urge to run up and drag her away, but at that moment something hit him from behind and he swore, forgetting for a moment that he was invisible. Instantly the realization hit him and he jumped aside to stick to the wall again, frozen with apprehension as he looked at his discoverer.

"What was that?" said Lily, looking around. James had a knowing look on his face, though, and he quickly whispered into her ear, reaching a hand out casually to the side. Sirius took it through the cloak. The two stepped nearer to the wall.

"How's it going?" muttered James out of the corner of his mouth, looking at Lily.

"Peachy, everything is starshine and rainbows, and I'm having the time of my life up against this fucking wall," replied Sirius.

"What're you on about?" asked James. "What's the matter?"

"_Her_! Don't you see her? Look back, behind Lily."

James glanced up. He looked for a while, then looked forward at Lily once again. "Mariah?"

"You see who she's _with_!? That Death Eater scum-"

Lily and James both shushed him as Tiberius McClaggen and Gwenog Jones walked by, linked at the arm.

"You can't do anything here," said James quietly. "Do you want to be caught like Rosier?"

"It's _Lovell_, James, she's with_ Lovell_! What do you want me to do? Let him lull her into a false sense of security and-"

"Yes, I know, but you can't do anything _here_," hissed James.

"And Mansfield is here with _Delacroix_. Are you not _surprised_ about this? Did you know Mariah was with-"

"I knew, Sirius," said Lily. "I'm sorry for not telling you, but Mariah said-"

"You_ knew_!? You knew and you didn't tell me!? Some friend you are." He glared at James under his cloak. "I suppose you knew too."

"Not until tonight," said James. "Lily didn't tell me. I saw it for myself. She just explained that-"

"Explained? Oh there's nothing to explain, it's perfectly clear to me what's going on. She's just snogging a Death Eater, that's all. No problems there," shot Sirius.

"She didn't want you to know because she knew you'd react exactly like this," hissed Lily.

Sirius seethed for a moment, staring at Mariah and Kurt. "Here, let me out, I'm going to go jinx him."

"You don't have a wand."

"That's not gonna stop me. I'll jinx him with my bare hands..." He struggled to extricate himself, but James leaned to the side, pinning him there.

"You're not thinking clearly, mate. Don't do something you'll regret. If you can't control yourself, get out," warned James. After a moment, he reached out blindly and grabbed Sirius's arm suddenly, taking Lily lightly by the hand and trying to look casual as he escorted her across the room towards the exit, dragging Sirius along under the cloak.

"Does Barnabus Cuffe have a date?" said Mariah.

"I'm fairly sure he didn't ask Slughorn to the dance, but you know I can't be too sure," said Kurt. They watched as Cuffe laughed uproariously at something Slughorn had just said. Slughorn looked a little uncertain, but pleased at the attention.

"Doesn't look too happy," muttered Mariah. She glanced around. "Oh look, there's Lily!" She waved at Lily as she and James made their way towards the exit and took Kurt's hand, leading him over. "Lily, I didn't get to see you before you left the dorm. Your dress is great!"

"Oh hi! Purple really is your color, Mariah," said Lily a little shrilly. She lurched forward and James stooped quickly to catch her, pulling her back up. "Oh, I'll never get used to heels. And the champagne is definitely not helping," she laughed breathlessly, moving closer to James as he reached an arm behind her.

"We're going to get some air," said James quickly. Lily nodded fervently.

"Good idea, yes, I need a break," said Lily, as James began herding her out of the door. Mariah laughed a little uncertainly.

"Mariah, I like this song," said Kurt suddenly as the band struck up a new tune. "Won't you dance with me?"

"Yeah, think I will," said Mariah, throwing a last glance at Lily. "See you around."

"See you..." said Lily weakly, stumbling away with James in tow.

"Was that _really_ necessary?" hissed James.

"-wipe the smug look off his filthy face-"

James gave another shove and the muttering died as they rounded the corner into the hall.

Mariah and Kurt wound their way through the other couples to an open corner. The song had a nice slow beat, and they held each other closer.

"Are you having fun?" asked Kurt. Mariah had been staring at Geoff and Emilie dancing near Snape and a Lottie who looked as though she was seriously pondering her life choices.

"Besides that sufficiently awkward encounter, yes," she said, looking up at him. "I'm sorry… they're usually nicer."

"I'm not here to date your friends, Mariah," said Kurt. "Just you."

"What makes you want to date me?" asked Mariah.

Kurt grinned. "Besides your amazing breasts, I also happen to find you very engaging," he said.

"Slick," said Mariah.

"I like to think so."

They danced in silence for another minute. Across the floor, Lottie had disengaged herself from Snape and was giving herself a generous helping from the punch bowl. He had taken a seat next to a dejected Regulus Black on the sidelines in Marlene McKinnon's vacated seat. The two of them exchanged a look, but did not speak. The song ended in a flourish and the couples stopped dancing. Kurt took Mariah's hand and led her off of the floor towards the exit.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"Not far."

The hallways were deserted, save for the few couples sneaking out of the banquet hall in each other's arms to find a more private situation. Kurt led Mariah down the hall, his arm around her waist, walking her past the windows and through a side door into a deserted corridor.

"Won't Filch be creeping around?" asked Mariah in a hushed voice. "If he-what?"

Kurt had stopped walking suddenly and she looked up at him quizzically. He looked down at her, and leaned in slowly, hesitating a moment before pressing his lips to hers. Mariah closed her eyes, putting her arms around him as he did the same, his fingers tangling in her hair. Neither of them noticed the door at the end of the corridor silently opening a fraction and then closing, nor the sound of light footsteps leading away from the door and down the hall.

Geoffrey and Emilie collapsed side-by-side into two of the chairs on the edge of the room, both laughing madly as they recovered from a rapid dance. The band, too, seemed a little worn out by its most recent efforts and had settled into a simple, rather lackluster oom-pah-pah waltz.

"See, look how much fun we're having," Emilie said. "And just think, you didn't even want to come with me."

"Yeah, well, my options were you or Wendy Slinkhard, so..." He grinned to show her he was joking, and was rewarded with a punch to his arm. He waved over a passing waiter and relieved him of two drinks, handing one to Emilie. "To new friends?" he offered.

"To new friends," she agreed, and touched the rim of her glass to his before draining half of it. "Aren't you worried that you'll be higher on Evan's shit list after this?"

He shrugged. "I don't really care any more, I guess," he said.

Emilie raised her eyebrows and leaned back, throwing one arm over the back of her chair. "You are full of surprises, Geoff. You're a lot braver than I thought you were."

"Well, I _am_ a Gryffindor, you know."

She laughed and raised her glass to him. "I'll drink to that. Gryffindor and Slytherin: the bitterest of enemies to the bitterest of ends."

The party drew to a close slowly, and only when the rest of the school had gone to bed did the students split off and head back to their respective common rooms. Those who had slunk off to abandoned classrooms returned to the party at least for a minute to get their excuses from Slughorn in case they crossed Filch's path in the dark halls.

"Great party, Professor," grinned Mariah as Slughorn handed both her and Kurt signed notes.

"Oh I'm glad you enjoyed it, yes, it was a success, wasn't it?" He seemed to swell a little with pride. "Yes, you and Mr. Lovell take care on your way back to bed, now."

"Goodnight, Professor," said Kurt, steering Mariah out of the room, an arm around her shoulders. It lowered to her waist when they exited out into the hallway and started off for Gryffindor Tower.

"Kurt."

They stopped and turned to see Rodolphus Lestrange walking towards them through the empty corridor. He stopped, facing them, his eyes on Kurt.

"Are you coming?" he asked shortly.

"No, go on without me. I'll be there soon enough," said Kurt. Rodolphus's stony face did not change, but his eyes slid slowly from Kurt to Mariah. She saw his lip curl slightly before he turned and walked back down the hallway.

They didn't say much going back to the common room, and when they stopped outside the portrait of the Fat Lady, Kurt released her from his grip only to catch her again with a kiss, cupping her face in his hand while she put one hand around his shoulder.

The loud clearing of a throat interrupted their snogging a minute later and they broke apart to see Sirius leaning against the entrance, looking expectant.

"Are you done?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Kurt laughed softly, turning back to Mariah. "Guess this is goodnight," he muttered. "I've angered the parents," he added in a hushed tone.

She smiled. "Goodnight," she said.

"Goodnight," said Kurt, leaning in. Sirius cleared his throat again. Kurt pecked Mariah on the cheek once and then turned away, his hand dropping from hers as he put his hands in his pockets and disappeared around the corner.

"Coming?" asked Sirius stagnantly, and Mariah turned back to the entrance, climbing through without looking at him. It wasn't until the portrait had swung completely shut that Sirius lost his temper. "What was _that_?" he shot derisively.

"What?"

"_That_ with Lovell," said Sirius. Mariah blinked.

"A kiss?"

"A kiss? He had his hands all over you!"

"Sirius he literally had his hands nowhere on me."

"You said you didn't even know him!"

"He asked me, so I went," said Mariah, frowning. "What's it to you? I told you I was going with someone!"

"You're fraternizing with a Slytherin after everything that's been going on lately?" he shouted.

"What are you talking abou-"

"Been to busy snogging Lovell to read the papers!? The_ Evening Prophet_ just came in." He marched over to a table and picked up the discarded paper, shoving it at her. "There, read _that_." Mariah looked down. The headline took up nearly the entire page.

**VOLDEMORT STRIKES HOME:**

**DEATH EATERS RAID MINISTRY OF MAGIC! DOZENS LEFT INJURED, MANY DEAD!**

**[FULL STORY INSIDE]**

"What do they mean raid on the Ministry?" asked Mariah softly.

"A pack of Death Eaters decided it was a good move to barge into the Ministry and start shooting off killing curses in every direction," replied Sirius with a sneer. "Not so keen on your honeypie now, _are_ you!"

Mariah threw the newspaper back at him. "That has nothing to do with Kurt!"

"Oh yeah? Nothing to do with him? The Death Eaters going on the rise, and you're _playing right into their hands_!"

"Sirius, the Slytherins aren't all Death Eaters," interjected Lily sharply.

Mariah looked around. Lily and James were sitting on another couch, the paper opened in front of them. Remus and Peter were seated in the armchairs surrounding, looking sullen. Scattered about the common room were a few more couples pouring over the paper. Some were crying.

"Their parents are!" barked Sirius. "Their whole families! There's barely one I know of that's not involved with them somehow!"

"Oh, so you're calling your own family Death Eaters?" snapped Mariah, folding her arms angrily.

"Yeah! I am!" Sirius looked livid. "I know better than anyone what the bastards are like! But apparently _some_ of us are a little too busy to open their eyes and see what they're actually being used for!"

"So you're saying he's just using me," said Mariah, furious.

Sirius laughed harshly. "Well if he hasn't yet, I'd say he doesn't have a very difficult journey ahead of him."

Mariah immediately turned on her heel and marched off towards the girls dormitories.

Sirius's victorious expression flickered and he quickly walked after her, grabbing her arm. "Mariah-"

The slap she dealt him resounded through the room, fading into her retreating footsteps and the eventual slam of a door. Sirius stood motionless. Lily said something to James before standing up, brushing past him after Mariah, and muttering a quick goodnight before disappearing through the passage after her friend. A deafening silence filled the room.

"You shouldn't have done that..." said James quietly, looking back at his friend. Sirius was looking after Mariah with a pained expression, but he managed to quickly recover a little of his resentful anger and walked around the couch with his head high to take the spot next to James.

"She deserved it," he said, justified. The others looked at him doubtfully, but said nothing. Once his mind was made up, there was no turning him back.


	21. Aftershock

Emilie entered the Great Hall to find it buzzing with conversation. Unlike the usual atmosphere of amity that followed Slug Club events, the dull roar in the hall was subdued and uneasy. The Slytherin table alone seeming immune to the tension. She caught sight of Geoff sitting at the end of the Gryffindor table, his head in his hands, staring down at a sheet of newsprint.

He glanced up as she approached, and she saw that his eyes were red, the bags beneath them suggesting he hadn't slept.

"Geoff, what's happening?" she asked, glancing around at the other students. She quickly turned her attention back to him as several Ravenclaws from the neighboring table shot her angry looks.

"Didn't bother to read the _Evening Prophet_ last night?" he asked. He slid the newspaper toward her, wiping his nose on the back of a sleeve.

"A raid at the Ministry?" she asked, scanning the headline. "I heard Mulciber talking about it this morning, said his dad was mentioned specifically in the article..." She glanced back up at him, and saw him picking absently at a piece of sausage, his fork shaking in his hand. "You're worried about your parents, aren't you?" she asked. "Have you heard from them?"

She saw him visibly stiffen. He swallowed hard and slowly shook his head. "My parents are dead."

"Geoff - I'm so sorry, I-"

"You what? Didn't know what you were getting into when you signed on with the Death Eaters? _My parents are dead, Emilie_. And it's because of people like Mulciber, and Rosier, and Avery. It's because of people like _you_."

Emilie was taken aback. "Because of people like _me_? Geoff - I was here, at school, with you. I had nothing to do with-"

"You were friends with Rosier, weren't you? His dad was seen leaving the Ministry just after the raid, right along with Mulciber's. You can't hang around with people like Rosier and not be like them. Snape started hanging around with them a couple of years ago, and look at him. He's just like them now. _You're_ just like them. And I heard Sirius saying-"

"Fuck Sirius," she said loudly, cutting him off. A couple of Gryffindors on the other side of Geoff looked up, startled. "He doesn't know what he's talking about. He's a git. Yeah, I was friends with Rosier, but you know what? Fuck him, too. Fuck all of them. They are not responsible for the raid. Their parents are. Yeah, they're gits for bragging about it, but they aren't responsible, and neither am I."

She paused, but Geoff didn't seem interested in responding. Hesitantly, she covered his hand with her own. He stared at it, still frowning, but didn't draw back.

"Listen, Geoff, I'm sorry about your parents. I really am. Let me know if there's anything I can do." She gave his hand a squeeze, then released it, striding across the Great Hall away from the accusing looks of the students who had lost relatives in the raid.

Geoff sat for a long moment, staring at the front page of the _Prophet_. It wasn't fair. How many students had lost a family member in the raid? How many had lost a sibling? A parent? How many had been orphaned? How could the Ministry have just sat by and let this happen? There had to have been warning signs - surely someone in the Ministry had seen them. Surely someone in the Ministry could have done something.

The most unjust part of the whole thing, though, was that the people like Rosier and Mulciber and Avery had walked out of it with their heads held high. Their parents hadn't been casualties; their parents had been murderers. And they were going to follow in their fathers' footsteps. Everyone suspected the same thing. Everyone knew which Slytherins dabbled in the Dark Arts. Everyone knew who had a skull and snake tattooed on their forearm.

But he had to know for sure. There had to be a way to find out. He had to know which Slytherins were aligned with Voldemort, and then he would do whatever he had to in order to avenge his parents. There had to be a way to get into the Slytherin common room undetected. An Invisibility Cloak, maybe - but he had no way of getting one without asking James, and asking James would undoubtedly mean involving Sirius, which he had no intention of doing. A Disillusionment Charm would do no good in such close quarters.

And then it hit him. A Polyjuice Potion. If he started quickly, he could have everything ready before Christmas.

Abruptly, he stood and hurried out of the Great Hall and toward the library, already working out the finer points of his plan in his mind. It would work, he told himself. It had to.


	22. Hellion Hexes Revisited

Mariah stared glumly out of the window, sitting with her knees pulled up to her chest. She could see crowds of students filing onto the grounds from the after-lunch rush, but was in no way sorry that she'd missed the meal. Sirius had hurt her, and now she was debating with the problem of having to face him again. Classes had been postponed so that the students whose families had been affected by the raid could be excused to go home, among them Geoff, Alice Prewett, Marlene McKinnon, and many other students. The only students treating the week off as a true vacation were the Slytherins, but there seemed to be a marked separation within the house about the raid - namely between those who celebrated it and those who chose not to acknowledge it.

The past few days, Mariah had stayed on her own. She'd split her time between the dormitories and the Library, finishing up homework she'd left late and reading through several books her father had sent her over the previous holidays. They had gotten their wands back after Slughorn's party, and there were a plethora of charms she had not yet learned. She'd tried to catch the Great Hall near the beginnings or ends of mealtimes, and sat far from the Marauders on each occasion. Lily joined her a few times, but often left to accompany James. Mariah didn't mind. She tried to distract herself from loneliness, and anticipated the day when classes would begin again. She just had to avoid them until then, and then she'd have to find a new plan.

"No problem..." Mariah sighed to herself, putting a hand to her forehead. She looked around, suddenly restless.

The previous few nights when the rest of her dormitory had been fast asleep, she hadn't been able to join them, and so she had amused herself by cleaning out her trunk for the first time in seven years. She knew that if she ventured out too much, there was a good chance that Filch would catch on to her nighttime wandering. If she got detention for that, there was going to be no convincing anyone that she wasn't on her way out to see Kurt. Pushing the thoughts out of her head best she could, Mariah began the excavation.

Traditionally over the summer holidays, Mariah would only add new contents to her trunk, rather than replace old items. Early on, her mother had performed an expanding charm on the insides so that they could hold untold amounts of things, but Mariah had never actually gone back through her stores in idle searching. By the end of the first day, Mariah was completely obscured by a wall of books on one side of her four-poster bed, and a wall of clothes on the other, both still growing. By the end of the next day, she'd forgotten her original mission and was caught up in the old Medical Magic books her father would send her.

The previous year, Professor McGonagall had pulled every one of the Gryffindors aside and interrogated them on their plans for the future. At the time, Mariah had had no ambitions whatsoever. The only classes she excelled in particularly were Potions, Herbology, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. This last had to do with her mother's early tutoring in counter-curses and jinxes, but for some reason in Transfiguration and Charms, Mariah maintained only average grades. This left Muggle Studies, which she had only taken at her father's request so he could read the books, and Care of Magical Creatures, in which she was often bitten, even by the unicorns.

In the end, Mariah had picked up a pamphlet for jobs at St. Mungo's, the wizarding hospital, and looked into opportunities there as a potioneer or a mediwizard. After suggesting the idea to her father, he'd promptly Owl Ordered about fifteen books on medical wizardry and sent them to her for the previous Christmas holidays, including a few of his own favorites from home.

Mariah slipped _Blisters, Bites, and Bewitchment_ aside, reaching to the floor for another book. She opened it, stared a moment, then flipped the cover back to read the title.

"Oh..." She blushed to herself, eyes scanning the title: _Hellion Hexes_. Definitely not a medical book. She was about to put it down, but stopped, looking at it pensively for a moment. Shrugging, she adjusted herself so that she was cross-legged, and opened the book, flipping through.

Well, she could see why James and Sirius liked it.

Every page was a full picture of a winking, lip-licking, scantily clad (and in some cases nude) girl, ages ranging through the mid-twenties, each with long glossy hair and alternating angelic and devilish expressions. Mariah imagined that there was enough ribbon and lace on each girl to make a full dress for one of them. And it was a long book.

Each picture had a margin next to it with the girl's name written in glittering ink at the top, with changing comments below obviously added by Hogwarts boys, reading things like, "She could tame my dragon any day," and, "Hey, that's my girlfriend," along with the memorable, "I'm feeling an engorgio charm coming on."

When she reached the middle, there was a trifold compacted in between two blank pages. Mariah turned the book sideways and unfolded the parchment...

There, posing, wearing the shortest robe in the history of the world and winking up at her was… her.

Mariah stared.

She pulled up the paper and looked at the back, then set it back down, squinting. Her hazel eyes, her shoulder-length hair, her legs… all of her legs… There was no denying it - it was her. As if on cue, a line of dark ink looped across one of the adjacent pages in elegant handwriting, spelling out her name. Mariah Jaeger.

She stared.

"What the fuck?"

Her picture faded, then, and another one melted into view. It was Lily, but not like she had ever seen Lily. She fervently hoped that even James had never seen Lily making that face, though there was no doubt he had seen the rest of her in that exact light. Lily's name appeared below Mariah's, her image faded then, and there was another figure. This figure was shirtless, but it didn't look particularly female as it faded into focus. Mariah squinted at it, and then felt her eyebrows raise.

Geoffrey Mansfield was giving her a smouldering look, one hand on his hip, the other running fingers through his hair. She could see everything down to a few inches below his belly button, but the skin of his legs showed only three inches under that, his netherlands concealed only by a form-fitting material four inches long which at least kept him morally decent. Beside the picture, Geoffrey Mansfield's name was scrawled in the same elegant hand.

Mariah stared at it.

"What the fuck!"

She quickly closed the book and flung it away from her. It landed in her trunk. Kicking the lid shut, Mariah shook her head silently at the trunk and glanced around the room. There was no one in the dormitory. A clock on the wall read that it was midway through dinner. Sighing and clearing a way through the small mountain of clothes beside her bed, Mariah stood, stretching, and left the room.

The common room was empty, and so were the hallways as Mariah made her way down towards the Library. As she descended the Spiral Staircase, however, she noticed Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange watching her. They were skulking in the corner, and Mariah acted as though she had not seen them as she ducked through the hallway towards the Library. They followed her. She could hear their footsteps echoing hers. She tried to slip down a side-corridor but found it to be a dead end too late. She stopped and turned, but the Lestranges were already there, blocking the entrance.

"Wrong way," said Mariah pointedly, moving to pass them, but the brothers didn't move.

"You've been stepping where you shouldn't, Jaeger," said Rodolphus, moving forward. Mariah moved backwards instinctively. "You've been off our radar for some time, Mudblood, but the more you cross us, the harder it'll be to ignore you." He pulled out his wand, twirling it between his fingers. Mariah reached for her own wand.

"Rodolphus, Rabastan, what are you doing here?" Kurt appeared behind them. Suddenly, Rodolphus's wand was nowhere to be seen. The two turned around to face him.

"We found her wandering," said Rabastan. "Said she was looking for you."

Kurt looked around at Mariah. "I see," he said. "I'll meet you two back in the common room, then."

Mariah caught a smirk from Rodolphus as the two Lestranges left the alley. Kurt made sure they were gone before turning back to Mariah.

"You were looking for me?" he asked.

Mariah's voice seemed to have failed her. "Um..." She hesitated. "Have you… mentioned to them… about last night?"

"We talked about it afterwards, why?" asked Kurt.

Mariah shook her head. "Nothing… they just… they're some intimidating souls," she finished lamely.

Kurt grinned. "Hey, don't worry, they don't bite. As long as I'm with you, they won't do anything," he said.

"Well that definitely reassures me," said Mariah.

Kurt's smile dropped. "I'll talk to them," he said. "Why weren't you at lunch, or dinner last night, or the night before? What's the matter?"

"Listen..." She took a deep breath. "It's not that I don't think we can't work, and I do like you… but it's having some detrimental effects that-"

"What happened?" He crossed his arms.

Mariah looked down. "Sirius and I had a row," she said. "After the raid. He doesn't like me hanging around with you."

"He's not your boyfriend," said Kurt, setting his jaw. He backed up and leaned against the wall opposite her, frustration apparent now. "You won't even give it a shot because of one thing he said?"

"It's not just that," said Mariah quickly. "The others, too. You saw how Lily and James acted at the party, and then Remus and Peter are extremely loyal to Sirius..." She hesitated. "I just don't see how I can carry on with this if it means sacrificing all of my friends. And the fact that the Lestranges are actually very scary when they want to be."

"So you want to end this before we even start it."

"I don't want to," said Mariah. Kurt glanced at her ruefully. "I'm saying that the way things currently are isn't working. So we should come up with something new."

Kurt turned back to her, frowning. "What are you proposing?"

"We need a way that we can be together without provoking controversy with my friends, or yours," said Mariah. Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"So you want it to be secret," he said.

"That's the only thing I can think of," said Mariah, "but it did work before. Those times after hours… they didn't know about it then."

"I suppose..." Kurt looked at her for a long time. "So you like me?"

"Yeah, I do," said Mariah, smiling at him. "But we should limit hanging around together just so it doesn't spark anything..."

"That works," said Kurt, idly toying with her hair.

"And we can't really talk during classes… or go off during the day or… stuff like that."

"Uh huh."

"And we can't-"

"You talk too much," said Kurt, kissing her.

* * *

**Review!**


	23. Mansfield Manor

The house had never looked so empty. Geoff scuffed his foot in the dirt of the road, trying to think of somewhere, anywhere else he could go rather than to his empty home. Thinking of nowhere, he took a step forward and pushed open the gate, trudging his way up the walk to the front door. He tapped his wand against the handle and the door swung open; another wave of the wand and the lights in the entryway sprang to life, but their typically warm glow seemed muted and chilly.

He made his way to the end of the hallway and turned left, dropping himself onto his bed, hardly bothering to pull his shoes off before stretching himself out on the mattress, giving in to exhaustion. No sooner had his head hit the pillow than he was fast asleep, snoring lightly.

The sunlight streaming in through the window woke him the next morning. He felt he really should be able to remember to shut the curtains after eighteen years, but somehow he had failed to do so on a fairly regular basis whenever he was home. He stalked over to the window and yanked the curtains closed, then turned back to his bed. It was inviting, but he decided against it. He changed into a fresh set of robes and shuffled his way down the hallway to the kitchen.

He glanced into the living room as he passed. Everything was still in the place his parents would have left it the morning before they died. A copy of the _Daily Prophet_ was carefully folded and lying on the arm of his father's armchair. An open crate of Quidditch balls was sitting on one end of the sofa, the Bludgers straining against their restraints, the Quaffle resting on the coffee table next to some of his mother's tools - he wondered absently what she had been doing with it.

He stepped into the kitchen to find it surprisingly clean. He doubted his parents had changed their habits since the summer - the place should have been a wreck, with dirty breakfast dishes still on the table. As he looked around the kitchen, he found the explanation. A woman was standing at the sink, scrubbing away at a grimy pan.

"Claire?"

She turned to look over her shoulder and flash him a quick smile. "I thought I heard you come in last night," she said. She dropped the pan into the sink and dried her hands on a dishrag before crossing the room and throwing her arms around him in a fierce hug. "Joel and I got here yesterday morning," she said, releasing him. "He's out back taking care of your dad's nifflers and knarls." She paused. "Are you doing all right? I know it can't be easy."

"Yeah, I'm... I'm okay."

"As good as you can be, right?" She turned back to the sink and continued scrubbing at the pan. "Your mum must've been working on something big. There's this gunk in the bottom of this thing that I couldn't get out with magic."

"She said something in a letter about trying to mix Quidditch and Quodpot. Something about supporting international magical cooperation through sports and strengthening ties with our American friends. You know how she is. Was."

"Yeah, that sounds like something she'd do." She shook her head and dropped the pan into the sink, giving up on scrubbing out whatever was stuck to the bottom. "Hungry?"

"No, no I'm fine. I'm just going to go out and say hello to Joel..." He slipped out the kitchen door into the backyard. Joel was standing in front of a pen of knarls, looking at them spitefully.

"One of the little bastards bit me," he said, thrusting out a hand as Geoffrey approached. Sure enough, a small perforated crescent was on the back of his hand, bleeding. "Blighter thought I was trying to poison him. And don't get me started on the bowtruckles. Doing all right, there, Geoff?" He thrust out a hand and gave Geoffrey a hardy handshake before turning to kick the fence of the knarl pen and send the creatures scattering. "Some chizpurfles infected one of your dad's augureys, and his clabbert's been eying some of his salamanders since Claire and I got here, and the Silencing Charm on his fwooper's starting to wear off. It's been driving me mad all night, but that's nothing to the puffskeins we found hiding in the guest bedroom. Have you ever been woken up in the middle of the night with a puffskein tongue up your nose eating your bogeys? Claire said she had one stick its tongue up her-"

"No, that's all right, don't want to know."

"Right." They lapsed into silence, Joel running his fingers absently over the knarl bite on his hand, which had begun to swell and turn an alarming shade of green. "Listen, Geoff, if there's anything Claire and I can do for you, just tell us. Really, anything at all. Your parents were as good as family to us, and they'd have wanted to make sure you were taken care of."

"Actually, there is something-"

"_Joel_! What happened to your hand?"

He sighed as Claire snatched up his hand and began examining the bite. "A knarl bit me, dear. That's all. It's fine."

"That is _not_ fine. Come on, I'll not have you going to the funeral with a green hand."

Joel gave Geoffrey an apologetic shrug and allowed himself to be led up to the house to have his hand bandaged, leaving the boy standing with the knarls snuffling around uneasily in the dirt of their pen. Geoffrey had the sudden sense of being watched, and turned to see a hippogriff lying in the shade of a tree, its forelegs folded in front of it as it gnawed on what looked to have once been a ferret. A hippogriff; that was new. He had long since learned not to question his father's new acquisitions when it came to magical creatures. He shook his head and turned to follow Claire and Joel back into the house and found them sitting at the kitchen table, a medical book propped open in front of them as Claire poked and prodded her husband's hand with her wand. The swelling seemed to have gone down, but the hand had turned from green to a violent shade of puce, and seemed to be secreting some sort of yellow pus.

Claire shook her head as she looked from the hand to the book and back again. "I think that's as good as it's going to get for now. We'll have to go by St. Mungo's later and get it looked at."

"Go to St. Mungo's? But, Claire, you're a Healer, can't you just-"

"Spell Damage, dear, not Creature-Induced Injuries. Now you just sit tight while I go find something we can wrap that in until we get to the hospital."

Joel sat back in his chair and sighed irritably as Claire stood and disappeared down the hallway in search of bandages. "So, Geoff, you had started to say something?"

"I was wondering if you might have any extra Sal Ammoniac or powdered Bicorn horn lying around."

Joel raised his eyebrows. "Need some Boomslang skin, too?"

"Yeah, actually, that would be good. And some Antimony, if you've got it." He watched as Joel adjusted his hand on the table and gave him a skeptical look.

"I don't suppose you're going to tell me what you're planning to do with this Polyjuice Potion, are you?"

"Who said anything about Polyjuice Potion?"

Joel leaned forward over the table. "Look, Geoff, I know you probably want to go get revenge on the people that killed your parents. I don't blame you. I'd like to find them myself and turn them inside out while they're awake before removing their livers and making them eat them, then pull their teeth out one by one and poke them through their eye sockets until they come out of their ears. But just promise me you won't do anything reckless."

"What would you define as reckless?"

"Promise me you aren't going to take on twenty Death Eaters single-handed. I'll give you your Bicorn horn and all that, but I don't want to hear about them wiping up the goo that used to be you off the floor of the Hogwarts Express."

"I promise."

"And don't say anything about it in front of Claire," he added as his wife's footsteps could be heard coming back down the hallway. "If she thought I was helping you to do something crazy-"

He broke off abruptly as Claire reentered, dropping a roll of bandages and a tube of some kind of cream onto the table before setting about treating Joel's hand.

Once she had cleaned and bandaged his hand, Claire looked at the clock hanging on the wall. "We'd better get going," she said.

The three of them stood and wordlessly exited the kitchen, walking out the front door and to the lane in front of their house, where they promptly Disapparated. They reappeared on the grassy slope of a cemetery. A group of mourners where already standing near a pair of caskets, still more Apparating between headstones.

Geoffrey seated himself at the end of a row of chairs and stared at the caskets. It was surreal; this couldn't be happening - not to _him_. A few of the mourners came over to him and shook his hand or gave him a pat on the back, giving him their sincerest condolences and most pitying looks before taking their own seats. The service was short and simple; the clergyman's voice was a sort of droning in Geoffrey's ears as he heard it without really listening. He watched his parents' caskets be lowered into the earth, but didn't feel any sense of bereavement whatsoever. He was numb.

Once the service and burial were over, he stood, turned on his heel, and Disapparated. He couldn't take their sympathy any more. He didn't want to hear about what great people his parents had been. He didn't want their pity.

When he appeared abruptly in his backyard, the knarls began scuffling around in their pen, trying to get as far from him as they could, eying him suspiciously with their beady eyes. He ignored them and stalked back to the house, grabbing one of the handles of the crate of Quidditch balls and lugging it out into the yard. He returned to grab a bat from the living room and his mother's Nimbus 1000 from its resting place just inside the back door. He released one of the Bludgers, mounted the broom, and kicked off.

He couldn't say he was disappointed that Joel and Claire had not yet returned from the funeral. He swung the bat at the Bludger as it sailed toward him, and it soared away, disappearing beyond the trees. As it reappeared several moments later and flew in his direction like a shot from a cannon, he imagined Mulciber's face on it. He took both his hands off the broomstick to hit the Bludger two-handed. As it sailed away beyond the trees a second time, Geoffrey could feel himself beginning to shake, hot tears running down his face. The Bludger returned with Avery's face on its surface, and disappeared over the trees a third time. When it returned bearing Rosier's face, Geoffrey hit it downward, and it plowed into the ground, making the knarls squeal and the hippogriff ruffle its feathers and click its beak irritably. The Bludger rose back into the air and was sent away with another hit from the bat. Geoffrey shot after it on the broomstick, soon catching it and hitting it back toward the house. He continued beating the Bludger for quite some time until he had calmed down and twilight had begun to set in, finally dismounted, and wrestling the Bludger back into the crate.

He dragged the crate, bat, and broom back into the house. For a moment, he was surprised to see that Claire and Joel still hadn't returned, but then remembered they had gone to St. Mungo's to get Joel's hand looked at. He trudged into the kitchen and made himself a piece of toast with some jam, and after choking it down with a glass of water, went down the hallway and went to bed, dreading the return to Hogwarts the next day.


	24. Into the Woods

Mariah kept an eye out for the Marauders for the next day or so, but they seemed to have disappeared from the castle altogether. She didn't even find Lily until dinner, when she'd expected to see them all, but a sudden Slug Club meeting had interrupted their meeting before much had been said. Confused, Mariah had returned to the common room alone and waited there for anyone to return so that she could speak to them. By curfew, none of them had returned, and Lily returned too tired to talk about anything. Mariah let her go with the promise to tell her later. One by one, the other students retired as Mariah continued to wait, but soon the common room was empty but for her, and the fire even was making its departure.

Eyes sore from staring into the flames, she stood finally and walked to the window, looking out at the grounds. The moon was full, and there were no clouds, so the lawn shone silver, bathed in a celestial light right up to the edge of the black trees of the Forbidden Forest. Mariah heard the clock striking eleven in the corner and closed her eyes, leaning on the sill and pressing her forehead to the cold glass. When she reopened them, however, something caught her attention.

There, running across the grounds, was a small figure she recognized after a moment to be James. Another figure came into view and caught up with the first, and Mariah recognized Sirius. A ways behind them lagged a third figure- Peter. Mariah waited for a fourth, but Remus did not seem to be with them. Mariah quickly marched to the portrait hole and pushed it open, heading towards the grounds.

It was cold, and her robes fluttered as she dashed across the lawn towards the Forest. A flutter of fear made her slow for a moment, but she kept going despite it. She had never been into the Forbidden Forest before, though she knew that the Marauders had been countless times. She had heard stories from them about centaurs and other things, but she'd heard, too, that werewolves roamed through the trees from the other students. But, she thought reassuringly, she was a seventh year now. Surely the Forest couldn't be that dangerous for someone who was almost a full witch? Surely...

All sense of security vanished upon entering the trees. Mariah sprinted over roots, looking around for her friends and listening hard to hear anything over her own heartbeat. After a few minutes of running, she stopped, looking around. There was nothing. She struggled to hear movement, but could only hear the wind in the trees above.

Then she heard something that made her spine tingle and the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. A distant sound that was actually not so distant. A howl...

Mariah turned around and began to run, hearing her footsteps crashing on falling leaves as though she were shattering glass. The trees seemed endless. Then another feeling hit her: uncertainty. She couldn't remember coming this way. Had she turned around in the right direction at the clearing?

Mariah reached into her robes for her wand. The moon had lit her way, but under the trees it was darker, throwing more shadows that made deceptively monstrous shapes on the trees.

"_Lumos_," she whispered, and a ball of light sparked from the end of her wand, illuminating the area around her. Mariah heard her own shaky breathing and tried to calm down, taking a step backwards to lean against a tree. Her heel hit something squashy that was not the forest floor.

She screamed, and leapt aside, seeing a small furry creature scamper away into the underbrush. A rat...just a rat. Mariah sank to the roots of the nearest tree, trying to breathe slowly enough to calm her throbbing heart and start thinking clearly. She was lost in the Forest, check. She had her wand, check. The stars were out, check. If she could just manage to gain some sort of direction...

There was the sound of something running, then, and Mariah hastily whispered "_Nox_," hoping that whatever it was would pass her by. She heard the footsteps slow, and then...

"Mariah?" She looked up, and then, without warning, burst into tears.

"Sirius!" she sobbed, wiping an arm across her face. "I thought I was going to get eaten by a thing! Thank God you're here!" Sirius looked taken aback.

"What the _hell_ are you doing out here!?"

"I saw you guys run in here," said Mariah, recovering herself. Sirius offered her a hand and pulled her to her feet.

"Mariah you need to go back to the castle," said Sirius sharply. "It's not safe out here!"

"But what about you? Where are James and Peter?" There was another howl, and a snarl closer than before. Sirius's face went white and he grabbed Mariah by the shoulders.

"Mariah you need to go, now! Go back to the castle!"

"But I don't know the way!" exclaimed Mariah, panicked. There were rustling sounds fast approaching Sirius pushed her roughly into the trees.

"_Get out of here_!"

And then Mariah saw it. Behind Sirius, galloping towards them on all fours, was a huge, hairy, lupine beast. She had heard about them countless times, read about them in class, even seen drawings, but never had she seen one alive. And here it was running straight for her. A werewolf.

She hesitated as Sirius ran right at it, but heard him screaming, "_What the hell are you waiting for_!?"" and took off sprinting in the other direction.

Mariah forced her legs to move faster and faster. The snarls of the werewolf faded soon enough, and soon it was just the wind rushing past her ears that she could hear. Her heart was racing so fast that the beats were inseparable, but Mariah wasn't paying attention to that. Her only focus was on running over the maze of treeroots, and putting as much distance between her and the werewolf as possible.

At long last she burst from the Forest onto the grounds by the lake, and collapsed in exhaustion, shaking as the adrenaline left her system and the cold realization of what had just happened seeped in.

Nothing made sense, and try as she might, Mariah could form no idea of what had happened as she lay in the grass. She stared up at the moon for what seemed like hours, just breathing, and feeling her heart pound against her ribs.

Eventually she was found by Filch, who instantly gave her two detentions- one count of being out after hours and one count of being by the Forbidden Forest- but she barely took notice of them as he escorted her back up Gryffindor Tower. Upon entering the common room, Mariah returned to her dormitory immediately, hurrying to Lily's bed and hastily shaking her awake.

"Lily... Lily... Lily... _Lily_..."

"Ow... whatisit?" murmured Lily sleepily, frowning into her mattress.

"Lily! A thing tried to attack me in the Forbidden Forest!" hissed Mariah, still shaking her friend.

"You have strange dreams, Mariah," mumbled Lily, rolling over.

"It wasn't a dream! I just got back!"

"What are you talking about?" sighed Lily, sitting up and opening her eyes blearily. When she saw Mariah's face, she seemed to wake up a little more. "Say it again?"

"Lily, I saw a thing in the woods and it attacked me only it didn't and Sirius was there and he-OH MY GOD, SIRIUS IS STILL OUT THERE! AND JAMES AND PETER! LILY, I SAW THEM RUN INTO THE FOREST!"

"Shut it, you two! Some of us are trying to sleep!" barked a Gwenog Jones grumpily from across the room. Lily got to her feet and dragged Mariah out of the dormitory back into the common room, sitting her down on a couch.

"Okay... now tell it to me slowly. You ran into the Forest..."

"Yeah..." Mariah gulped, feeling her heart still banging against her ribcage. "I saw James and Sirius and Peter run in... and then I was lost, and I stepped on a rat, and then I sat down because it was awful, and Sirius showed up and yelled at me and I was crying, and then this..." Mariah looked up at Lily earnestly. "Lily, I think it was a werewolf. And it charged at me and Sirius..." She grabbed Lily's arm. "They started fighting it... I can't have been dreaming, Lily, cause I got a detention..."

"No... no that wasn't a dream," said Lily, sinking down beside her friend. Mariah felt relieved.

"Hang on, what do you mean it wasn't?" she said after a second. And then she noticed her friend's sheepishness. "What's going on?"

"I'm not going to get any more sleep, I can tell," groaned Lily. "Let's just wait for them to get back."

"No, you know something. Tell me! What was that? Why is it okay that they're out there with a werewolf?"

"Mariah, calm down, you're in shock," said Lily. She sighed, glancing around. "It's not that I don't want to tell you, it's that it's not my secret to tell. We'll wait til the boys get back, and then they can give you a better explanation."

"And what if they avoid the question like it never happened?" asked Mariah, thinking of Sirius. Lily eyed her.

"If you got as close as you say you did, they won't avoid it," she said. "It's not something many people know..."

"I swear I won't breathe a word," said Mariah, eyes wide. Lily shook her head.

"It's up to them to tell you," she said, yawning. "What time is it?"

"Midnight," said Mariah, glancing at the clock in the corner. Lily groaned.

"Can we at least try to get some sleep while we wait?" she asked. Mariah shrugged, nestling up in the corner of the couch as her friend did the same. Lily went slack almost at once, her mouth wide open, but Mariah lay awake staring at the embers of the fireplace for quite some time before nodding off as well.

It was nearly four in the morning when Mariah opened her eyes to see Sirius standing over her, pushing her shoulder to wake her. She sat up and noticed the other boys sitting around, all looking exhausted, but none moreso than Remus, whose face seemed almost gray. James stood at the other end of the couch, next to an alert Lily. They looked as though they had been there already for some time.

"Morning, Mariah," said James after a moment, breaking the silence. "I suppose you didn't sleep well?"

"You could say that," said Mariah, rubbing the sleep from the corner of her eye. "I'm very interested to know the reasons behind my waking nightmares."

"Don't be like that," growled Sirius sharply. Mariah scoffed, but he sent her a scathing look that halted any retort she might have given. James quickly stepped between them.

"We raided the kitchens earlier- thought it might be good to have an early picnic. Plus I thought it might be good to get out of the castle for a bit." He looked meaningfully at Lily, who stood and pulled Mariah up, leading her away from Sirius. They exited the portrait hole with James and Sirius close behind, Peter and Remus tailing them. Peter was limping noticeably. They quietly descended through the castle and made their way out across the grounds towards the lake without a word exchanged amongst them. Mariah noticed that Remus was looking sick, but when she turned her inquisitive gaze to Sirius, she was met with a cold stare.

When they changed directions towards the Forest, Mariah slowed warily, but Lily took her arm and led her along until they reached the edge of the trees where a cloth covered with an array of food lay spread over the grass.

"Have a seat," said James, sitting cross-legged next to Lily. Mariah sat down on her other side, watching as Sirius walked around the edge of the cloth and settled between Remus and James, not looking at her. Peter seated himself last, promptly taking a piece of toast and beginning to apply liberal amounts of butter.

"Right... would anyone like to do the honors?" asked James. The others looked back at him morosely, and he cleared his throat. "I will then, I suppose." He looked at Mariah. "First of all, I want you to swear that whatever you hear, you will not repeat to _anyone_. And I mean anyone. Is that clear?"

"Yes," said Mariah, looking from James to the others and back. "I swear." James nodded.

"Good... right then..." He cleared his throat once more. "You've heard of the Shrieking Shack, of course?" Mariah blinked at the change in subject.

"Well, yeah... everyone has..." she said slowly.

"Alright. Well then you should know that it isn't really haunted," said James. Mariah frowned.

"What do you mean? You said yourself that you heard the ghosts banging around inside," she said matter-of-factly. James blinked.

"Did I?"

"Yes... fifth year," said Mariah.

"Oh. Well I lied. We're the ones haunting it," said James. "Once a month... at every full moon." He eyed Mariah for a reaction. She glanced amongst them again.

"So... that _was_ a werewolf..."

"Yes," said Remus hoarsely. Mariah looked at him. The boy had a haunted look about his face, and he wasn't meeting her eyes. She looked back at James, whose eyes were on Remus.

"Yes..." James looked at Mariah. "Do you remember in second year how one of us left the school once a month to visit his ill mother, or had a sickness himself. Rather regularly, we noticed. We managed to read the signs and work out the secret of one of our number... that he was-"

"A monster," finished Remus. He looked up. "Don't sugarcoat it, James, just say it. I'm a werewolf." He looked at Mariah sullenly and sighed. "Doesn't really matter who knows anymore, anyway. Soon enough everyone will. You have to declare when you choose a career..."

"Oh..." Mariah stared at Remus. "You're... you're the werewolf... and you're the one making all the noise in the Shack..."

"Yes," said Remus. "Safety precautions. Dumbledore had Madam Pompfrey escort me through a passage to Hogsmede once a month and let me loose in the Shack for the duration of my transformation."

"Then why were you all with him?" asked Mariah, looking to the others. "And why were you in the Forest and not the Shack?"

"We weren't about to let our debutante wander around at night without a chaperone. It ain't right," said James, grinning at Remus. Remus smiled slightly. "And we sometimes switch up our schedules, and since last night was clear and all, we thought it would be a fun idea to get out and... well, roam..."

"We didn't think anyone would be wandering around nearby, though," muttered Sirius. Mariah was about to retort, but James cut in.

"We can usually handle him pretty well, but then you got a little too close last night and we almost lost control."

"I'm sorry," said Remus, putting a hand to his forehead. Mariah saw that his hands were clutched into fists, knuckles white. "I am not in my right mind when I transform, please understand. I have no control over my actions, nor any idea what I am doing. I only heard that you'd been involved when I changed back and the others told me."

"It's fine," said Mariah, pushing back the memories of the werewolf charging towards her with a small shudder.

"No it isn't," said Remus forcefully.

"I'm fine, aren't I?" She stared at Remus. He didn't meet her eyes.

"It was irresponsible," he said. "I shouldn't have been so close to the school-"

"It was an accident, Remus. They happen," said Mariah. Remus met her eyes.

"I could have killed you," he said.

"Nah, we wouldn't have let you," said Sirius gruffly. "And we didn't, did we?"

"You didn't do anything wrong," said Mariah. "I was the one chasing you all into the Forest. I got myself lost. And if I hadn't been attacked by you then something else, and probably worse, would've got me." Remus smiled humorlessly, staring into space again.

"You're terrible at reassuring people."

"That may be, but it doesn't change the fact that I still want to be friends with you." Mariah moved closer to him, crossing her arms. "I'm not leaving until you accept me." Remus snorted, putting a hand to his face.

"You're just as stubborn as they are."

"Don't insult me," said Mariah. She grinned, and Remus smiled shortly. "Now, are we actually going to eat this food or was it just symbolic?"

"You're so uppity," snorted Sirius derisively, shaking his head. Mariah didn't look at him, but her grin faded as she looked around the tablecloth.

"I'll guess I'll get it myself, then," she muttered. Sirius leaned forward, sneering.

"Oh, and Mrs. Lovell, since no one else knows about all this, don't run off gabbing to hubby dearest at the next chance you get-"

"Don't call him that," said Mariah sharply.

"That's just about what he is though, right? So why shouldn't I?" sneered Sirius.

"We're just dating, Sirius!"

"Aha! So you admit it! You're under his thumb!" Mariah stood abruptly.

"You know, I was all prepared to lie to you all and say I'd broken it off, but think what you want- the fact is, we're together," said Mariah, her eyes flicking up to meet Sirius's. "So you should stop going out of your way to ruin my life and go back to ignoring me like you did before." She turned and walked back towards the castle.

"Igno-_what_!?" Sirius got to his feet, walking around the picnic cloth and taking her by the arm. "Come on."

"No thanks," said Mariah.

"I want to talk to you!" barked Sirius.

"Well I don't want to talk to _you_."

"Why not!"

"Because I finally have a chance at happiness, and you're trying to destroy it!" Mariah wrenched her arm back, every inch of her seething with rage. "That's what you do! You see other people being happy and you feel like you have to ruin it! And then you find some ridiculous way to justify yourself, but really its just your ego swelling up so that it can compensate for your failure as a human being!"

Sirius looked stunned. Taking advantage of his distraction, Mariah turned and strode quickly back up towards the school.

"I can't _believe_ her!" seethed Sirius, kicking a teapot across the ground. "Do you see that! You see what she's doing! Even when all the cards are stacked against her-"

"Sirius..." Remus spoke slowly and calmly, looking at his friend. "You have to understand that you are not the only bloke at this school who fancies her." Sirius blanched.

"_What_!? I don't-"

"Oh come on, you're acting just as bad as James did when Lily was best friends with Severus."

"What!" exclaimed James and Sirius at the same time.

"I'm not that bad!" cried Sirius, devastated.

"What!?" James was dumbfounded. "What did I do!"

"Acted like a complete asshole most of the time," said Lily, smiling slightly. "Though I believe Sirius has surpassed you."

"I haven't done anything!" defended Sirius. "It's not like I've followed them all over the grounds jinxing him?" There was a pause as he stopped to consider the idea.

"Don't even think about it," said Lily.

"Sirius," interjected Remus before Sirius could retort, "you can't do this... it's not fair to her. Let her make her own decisions without us breathing down her neck. She doesn't need pressure..."

"But what if he-"

"Has he done anything to her?" said Remus shortly. Sirius made a disgusted face, as though remembering something unpleasant, and started to reply, but Remus cut him off. "Has he done anything _malevolent_ to her?"

"No but it's only a matter of time before-"

"If he hasn't done anything, we can't do anything," said Remus. "If you find that he's hurt her or used her, you can do what you like. But if he's done nothing wrong, you can't exactly torture them for no reason."

Sirius sighed, and they saw that they had won his consent. He twirled a piece of grass broodingly.

"...I don't know what to do..." he said under his breath. "I'm here bending over backwards and she's never given me so much as a sideways glance..."

"You weren't before," James pointed out. "You never were much interested in her til someone else took interest. She's been there seven years, mate."

"Well..." Sirius struggled to make his case. "I guess I just never thought about it much..." He sighed. "She must hate me now..."

"Well, you _did_ scream at her and accuse her of being a Death Eater whore," said James.

"I did..." Sirius groaned. "What do I dooooo..."

"I suppose the only thing you can do is beg for forgiveness," said Remus nonchalantly. Sirius's agony turned to disgust.

"_Beg_?"

"Apologize, and go from there," said Lily quickly. "If you ever want to be on her good side again."

Sirius looked at them, considering the idea.

"...Ehh, I'll figure something out," he mumbled, tossing the grass aside and looking back up at the castle after Mariah.

James looked at Lily. "Do you think she'll say anything?"

"I really don't," said Lily. "She's been my friend for years. I trust her."

"If you trust her, I do," said James.

Remus picked at the grass besides the picnic cloth, breaking it off in his fist, and said nothing.


	25. The Accused, February 1994

**5 February 1994**

Geoff looked up at the knock on his office door and was mildly surprised to see an exceptionally frazzled-looking Hermione standing in the doorway, a large bag slung over one shoulder and a heavy tome held in her arms. "Miss Granger," he said, "not going to the match?"

"No, sir," she said, sitting in one of the winged armchairs in front of his desk. She gingerly set the large book she carried on a clear spot on his desk, setting her bag down on the floor beside her. "Too much work to do."

"_When Streelers Strike Back: Applying Magical Law to Magical Creatures_," he said, scanning the title of the book. "This wouldn't have to do with that hippogriff, would it?"

She nodded enthusiastically, reaching into her bag and pulled out another series of books, naming them as she piled each one on top of his desk. "I've also got _Murderous Mooncalves_, which talks about the mad mooncalf disease outbreak of 1871, which was blamed on the mooncalves themselves; Lockhart's _Criminalizing Cockatrices_, _Prosecuting Plimpies_, and _Lawyer for a Leprechaun_ - I mean, of course I know _he_ didn't actually handle those cases, but I thought there might still be some good information in the books about how trials for magical creatures are handled - and _Magical Legislature of the Twentieth Century_, which only has a small chapter on nonhuman cases, but it's been really informative... oh, and here we have-"

"Miss Granger, it's clear you've done your homework," Geoffrey said, holding up a hand to stop her. He suspected that as large as her bag was, she had managed an expanding charm on it, and there was no telling just how many books she would pull out. "If I may ask, why are you so interested in this?"

"Because Hagrid's my friend," she said. "And you _can't_ think that Buckbeak really _attacked_ Malfoy," she added. "You've seen him - Buckbeak, I mean, not Malfoy, though I suppose you've seen him, too, since you're a professor - you know he's not dangerous. Malfoy wasn't even hurt that badly! There must be something..." Hermione faltered at the apologetic smile Geoff offered her, looking down at the book in her hands.

"It's your word against Malfoy's, I'm afraid," he said, "and the only evidence we have is that Buckbeak _did_ injure him. Since Buckbeak can't speak for himself, there isn't much we can do."

"Couldn't you offer a testimony?" she asked. She grabbed one of the books from the desk and began flipping through it. "In _Prosecuting Plimpies_, Lockhart says an expert on magical creatures was brought in at the hearing, and his opinion-"

"It wouldn't do much good," he answered. "All I would be able to do is provide a statement about Buckbeak's condition, and talk about hippogriffs' general behavior. I couldn't say if Buckbeak was behaving inappropriately for the circumstances, or if Malfoy provoked him. Even if I _could_ prove that Malfoy provoked him, what would that accomplish besides showing Hagrid's incompetence as a teacher? _Not that I think he's incompetent_," he emphasized as she opened her mouth to protest. "But if he failed to teach his students the appropriate etiquette for dealing with hippogriffs, the blame is on him."

"But he _did_ teach us. Malfoy just-"

"I'm sure Hagrid did teach you. He would want you to enjoy the hippogriffs as much as he does. But the evidence is not in his favor, given the circumstances. Wouldn't you rather him lose a hippogriff than lose his job?"

"It's not fair," Hermione said, beginning to put her books back into her bag. "Buckbeak didn't do anything _wrong_."

"He hasn't been sentenced yet," Geoff reminded her. "Maybe the hearing will go our way. If anyone can figure out a good defense for him, it's you, Hermione."

She sniffled a bit, wiped at her nose, and gave him a teary smile.

"Come on," he said, standing. "You look like you need a break from all this legal reading. Let's go cheer on Gryffindor."

Hermione agreed, and at Geoff's recommendation left her bag in his office to be collected after the Quidditch match. As they made their way down to the Quidditch pitch, they could hear the crowd already cheering, yelling loudly for their preferred team.

Geoff and Hermione made it into the stands in time to see Harry dive for the Snitch, but draw up short, apparently having lost it as a Bludger flew across his path. The skinny Gryffindor Seeker returned to circling above the field, looking for the elusive ball. Hermione caught sight of Ron a short way down the bleachers, but deliberately turned the other way, determined not to make eye contact.

"He's seen it again - there he goes!" Geoff yelled, pointing at Harry as he took another dive. Cho Chang was hot on his tail, but the Ravenclaw girl pulled up short, and her scream was heard across the pitch. Confused, Geoff looked down to the field in time to see three Dementors drifting across the grass, but they were quickly knocked aside by a great silver stag that had emerged from the end of Harry's wand. "Merlin's beard," he breathed.

Harry had caught the Snitch, but only about half the crowd had noticed his accomplishment, the other half focused on the Dementors on the field, who had gotten tangled in their own robes.

"Those aren't Dementors," a second-year boy beside Hermione said, looking through a set of binoculars. "They're Slytherins!"

"What?" Hermione snatched the binoculars away from the boy, who protested loudly. "It's Malfoy and his gang," she said, passing the binoculars to Geoff.

He looked through them briefly, but as soon as he identified his son as one of the Dementors, he passed the binoculars back to the second-year with a heavy sigh. "If you'll excuse me, Hermione," he said, "I have to go deal with my delinquent son."

"Your lessons really seem to be paying off, Remus," said Mariah back in his office following the game. "Cheers."

"I couldn't believe it," said Remus. "Though I'm sure no one was as shocked as Mr. Malfoy."

"And Joel Mansfield," said Mariah. "Poor boy. There's a lot of Emilie in him. You should have seen the bruises he put on Harry and Ron."

"You know, Mariah, since I'm not going to be ill tonight..." Remus reached into his desk and pulled out a large unopened bottle of Ogden's Old Firewhiskey. Mariah smirked.

"But Remus," she pulled out two bottles of elderflower wine from the depths of her robes, "however did you know?" Remus laughed.

"I can't believe it... where were you keeping those?"

"Let's leave a few mysteries in the world," said Mariah, opening both bottles with a wave of her wand and handing one to Remus. He took it, raising one eyebrow, but took a drink anyway.

The two of them made it through the wine in no time, and were a good ways into the Firewhiskey before Mariah threw some Floo Powder into the furnace and crawled inside, emerging pulling a confused Geoff Mansfield back into the office. Another third of the Firewhiskey was gone within the hour, and soon the three of them were left very, very giggly.

"Good God, Remus, it's a zoo in here," said Mariah after a nasty moment where something had grabbed her ankle from beneath the sheet that covered one of many cages against the wall.

"I'm trying to gather everything for the final exam. It shouldn't be too difficult, but I have to run it by Dumbledore and get it set up fairly soon," said Remus, leaning back with his feet on his desk. Geoff lifted another sheet and looked blearily at the Hinkypunk within.

"Tell me when you're examining them, I think I want to see this," he said with some amusement. His eyes grew wide. "What if we had a combined exam! You're using creatures! I'm Care Thereof!"

"We could do that," said Remus, equally awed by the prospect.

"No one does that! Quit looking so eager," said Mariah, sitting on Remus's desk. "Hey, I've got an idea. Why don't we all go nip down to the kitchens, aye? I'm starving."

"Didn't you go to dinner?" asked Geoff. Mariah pointed at the nearly-empty bottles.

"This was dinner."

"Yeah, let's go," said Remus, removing his feet from atop his desk and struggling to stand.

The three of them made their way out through the dark corridor and towards the Spiral Staircase. They had nearly reached it, Geoff supporting Mariah a good deal of the way, when they spotted someone sprinting around the corner ahead of them.

"Who's that?" asked Remus loudly, but Mariah shushed him.

"Let him go. These kids are always out of bed. Insomniacs," she muttered. "I used to do it all the time, give 'em a break. It's Christmas."

"It's not Christmas," said Geoff.

"Then why're we celebrating?" asked Mariah, puzzled.

"Gryffindor won the match," said Geoff.

"_Gryffindooooooooor_!" shouted Mariah. Remus and Geoff both shushed her fervently, but the next minute they had reached the Spiral Staircase only to find Filch waiting for them at the top.

"There's a student out of bed!" he hissed at them. "I heard footsteps!"

"That was us," said Mariah eagerly. "Sorry, we were just out for a stroll." She leaned heavily on Geoff's shoulder. Remus stepped forward, a little unsteady.

"So, sorry, Mr. Filch, we'll be sure to keep it down. We just ah-"

But Filch had obviously had enough. He turned and walked back down the corridor, his cat Mrs. Norris darting about his heels. They heard him muttering as the light of his lantern faded away about troublemaker students getting jobs they did not deserve. Remus, Mariah, and Geoff continued their journey down the stairs in a fit of laughing and hissing at one another.

"Well that was a trip," said Mariah when they'd reached the landing.

"Which way..." started Geoff, but Remus pointed towards the dungeons.

"Down there."

They'd nearly reached it when suddenly Snape appeared from the shadows, his robes flourishing behind him like an extension of the darkness. The light caught his pallid face, and the pale hand he was pointing right at them.

"Stop _right_ there," he sneered, drawing his wand with his other hand. "I knew you three were up to something. I knew there was no way you hadn't returned to your old allegiances. Dumbledore may have believed whatever lies you told him, but he was mistaken to trust the three of you under the same roof!"

"Snape, what the hell-" Mariah reached for her wand, and Geoff's was already out.

"Hold on," said Remus, stepping forward, quite a bit more sober than he had been a moment before. "Snape, what are you talking about?"

"What is going on?"

Professor McGonagall was descending the Spiral Staircase behind them in a tartan dressing gown. "Have you searched the ground floor yet? Why are you-"

"Professor, I found these three sneaking around the Entrance Hall. They must have been helping Black escape," said Snape.

"What?"

"We didn't help-"

"What do you mean Black escape?" Remus was the loudest. "He wasn't here?"

"Mr. Weasley awoke to find Sirius Black standing over him holding a knife," said Professor McGonagall.

"A _knife_?" said Mariah.

"Is he alright?" asked Geoff.

"Mr. Weasley is a little shocked, but that is all. Apparently Black found a list of the passwords to the Gryffindor portrait hole that a very, very foolish Mr. Longbottom left lying around somewhere, and now he's loose in the castle. But we are wasting time. Quickly, we need to search as much of the castle and grounds as possible before he has the chance to escape," said Professor McGonagall.

"I've searched the dungeons and the kitchens with no sign of him," said Snape, drawing himself up. "But really, Professor, I think these three should be immediately taken into custody."

"Not until we've done a thorough search to find him," said Professor McGonagall.

"We've covered the Astronomy Tower! No sign of him!" called Professor Flitwick from the top of the stairs, drawing their attention.

"Has anyone alerted Hagrid?" asked Professor McGonagall.

"Professor Sprout, I think. They're covering the grounds, now!" piped Flitwick.

"Whatever this is, we must wait until the search has been finished to deal with it," said Professor McGonagall, eyeing Remus, Mariah, and Geoff, then turning her gaze to Snape. "For now, split up. We need to cover as much ground as we possibly can."

They dispersed, Mariah, Geoff, and Remus hurrying out onto the grounds while Snape stowed his wand reluctantly back within his robes, moving to search the Great Hall.

Saturday morning after breakfast, Harry hurried up to the third floor, slipping the Marauder's Map out of his pocket as he went. Crouching behind the one-eyed witch, he smoothed it out. Harry squinted at a pair of small dots in a nearby corridor, but before he had a chance to read the names, he heard footsteps approaching and ducked behind the witch statue.

"Mark my words, professor, there's something fishy going on around here."

Filch. Harry shifted uncomfortably, a sense of dread filling the pit of his stomach. Did Filch know about the passage to Honeydukes?

"That notorious mass-murderer Sirius Black ain't been getting into this castle on his own," Filch went on. "Not with all them Dementors floating around, not to mention my own little improvements to security."

"I couldn't agree more. He must be having inside help."

Snape's voice only served to heighten Harry's sense of dread. The footsteps stopped right in front of the humpbacked witch. Harry closed his eyes, hoping that Filch and Snape wouldn't look at the statue too closely.

"I know that look, professor. You think you've got some idea who's behind it?"

"Bringing Lupin, Jaeger, and Mansfield here was a mistake. Longbottom is in and out of the Hospital Wing so often, Jaeger must have stolen his list of passwords and given it to Black. The boy may be witless, but even he's not stupid enough to _lose_ it."

"And getting into the castle? How do you reckon Black managed that? Takes more than a list of passwords to get inside these walls." Filch slapped an open palm against the wall of the corridor, patting it almost fondly. "And you think he had help, do you?" he asked as the pair resumed walking.

"I suspect that Lupin is behind it."

"Lupin?"

"He was always tagging along after Black and Potter when they were in school..."

Their voices drifted off, and Harry waited several more moments before emerging from behind the statue, ensuring that the caretaker and potions master were gone.

He tapped the hump of the one-eyed witch to open it, heaved himself inside, and slid down to the bottom of the stone chute. He wiped the Marauder's Map blank again, then set off at a run, eager to tell Ron about the conversation he had overheard between Filch and Snape.

As soon as he emerged in Honeyduke's, however, any thought of Snape was pushed from his mind by the sights and smells of hundreds of varieties of candy and sweets.

Harry didn't dare look at Snape as they left his office. He, Ron, and Lupin walked all the way back into the entrance hall before any of them spoke, then Harry turned to Lupin.

"I don't want to hear explanations," said Lupin before Harry could so much as open his mouth. He glanced around the empty entrance hall and lowered his voice. "I happen to know that this map was confiscated by Mr. Filch many years ago. Yes, I know it's a map," he said as Harry and Ron looked amazed. "I don't want to know how it fell into your possession. I am, however, astounded that you didn't hand it in. Particularly after what happened the last time a student left information about the castle lying around. And I can't let you have it back, Harry."

Harry had expected that, and was too keen for explanations to protest. "Why did Snape think I'd got it from the manufacturers?" he asked.

"Because..." Lupin hesitated for a moment. "Because these mapmakers would have wanted to lure you out of school. They'd think it extremely entertaining."

"Do you know them?" said Harry, impressed.

"We've met," he said shortly. He was looking at Harry more seriously than ever before. "Don't expect me to cover up for you again, Harry. I cannot make you take Sirius Black seriously. But I would have thought that what you have heard when the dementors draw near you would have had more of an effect on you. Your parents gave their lives to keep you alive, Harry. A poor way to repay them - gambling their sacrifice for a bag of magic tricks."

He walked away, leaving Harry feeling worse by far than he had at any point in Snape's office. Slowly, he and Ron mounted the marble staircase. As Harry passed the one-eyed witch, he remembered the Invisibility Cloak - it was still down there, but he didn't dare go and get it.

"It's my fault," said Ron abruptly. "I persuaded you to go. Lupin's right, it was stupid, we shouldn't've done it -"

"Lupin!" Harry exclaimed, cutting Ron off short. Having escaped the threat of being caught by Snape, the memory of the overheard conversation had come back to him. "Listen, I was going to tell you - I heard Snape talking to Filch earlier. He reckons that Lupin's the one who let Black into the castle, and that Nurse Jaeger's the one who gave Black Neville's list of passwords."

"_What_? Snape thinks _Lupin_ let Black in?"

"Yeah," Harry said. "Said they used to be friends at school, so he's probably trying to get him inside the castle to off me."

"I don't know much about that Nurse, but Lupin let Black in? It's probably _Snape_ who got Black inside the castle," Ron said. "You don't reckon he made the map, do you? Lupin said the manufacturers would've thought it was a right laugh to get you out of the castle, and I bet Snape'd do anything to get you out so you'd get chucked out or so Black could get you."

"Why would he make something to call himself an 'ugly git'?"

"Maybe it's a cover. Really, though, I'd bet you all the Galleons in Gringotts that Snape's the one who let Black-"

Ron broke off; they reached the corridor where the security trolls were pacing, and Hermione was walking toward them. One look at her face convinced Harry that she had heard what had happened. His heart plummeted - had she told Professor McGonagall?

"Come to have a good gloat?" said Ron savagely as she stopped in front of them. "Or have you just been to tell on us?"

"No," said Hermione. She was holding a letter in her hands and her lip was trembling. "I just thought you ought to know... Hagrid lost his case. Buckbeak is going to be executed."


	26. A Growing Rift

**Mid-November, 1977**

The Great Hall was packed, and few students were beginning to leave, but luckily there were seats available at the far ends of the long table, far from where Lily sat with the Marauders near the center. Mariah took an available seat and hastily began heaping food onto her plate, stopping only to lift her goblet and gulp it down.

Lowering the goblet, she choked on her pumpkin juice as a large owl hooted loudly from the empty seat across from her. Mariah spluttered, coughing violently, and dropping the goblet sideways on the table. The owl eyed the spill with one disdainful eye, but hooted again, holding out its leg. Recovering slightly, Mariah looked at it to see a large letter tied. Covering her mouth with one hand, still coughing, she reached out and unfastened the letter from the owl's foot and the bird instantly took off.

Breathing steadily, Mariah held the folded parchment up and turned it over once before slitting it open and unfolding it.

_Dear Mariah,_

_3rd Floor Corridor, 4:00, bring your tits, not your underwear._

_Love, Kurt_

Mariah stared flatly at the slanted handwriting, her eyes drifting to three rather squarely drawn hearts lining one edge of the parchment.

Charming.

"Mariah." Mariah slammed the letter down on the table and turned around quickly to see Remus standing next to her.

"Hi! Yes?" she asked a bit louder than she needed to. Remus paused, looking at the letter.

"...What's that?" he asked, nodding at it. Mariah glanced sideways briefly.

"Don't worry about it." She crumpled it up and shoved it into her pocket. "What's up?" Remus looked preoccupied. "Is something wrong?"

"No, I..." He paused, then walked around and sat next to her in the next available seat. "I wanted to ask you something. When you said that you were alright, was that just because the others were there?"

"I'm fine... wait, is this because Sirius called me a liar?" asked Mariah sharply.

"No, this is personal interest," said Remus.

"Course I'm alright," said Mariah. "I wouldn't care if you were really a troll, Remus, you're still my friend."

"Not just that. I wondered... if you were alright after our encounter in the woods," said Remus slowly.

"What do you mean?" Remus sighed.

"Lily says you've been tossing in your sleep," he said. Mariah grimaced. Ever since the event in the Forest, she'd been awaking in a cold sweat at odd hours of the night. She thought no one had noticed...

"I'm recovering," she said finally. "Being rushed at by a werewolf is kind of a shock... but it's you, isn't it."

"...I suppose it is," said Remus softly. He cleared his throat after a moment. "Thank you for telling me the truth."

"Listen," said Mariah, catching him as he started to turn away. "I want to help. I found this potion. It's a recent discovery, something to relieve the symptoms of lycanthropy. "

"Mariah, my family's already looked for anything and everything possible to cure-"

"It's not a cure. It's experimental... or was... recently." Mariah waved it off. "It relieves the symptoms... makes you stay in control. It's called the Wolfsbane Potion."

Remus sighed.

"I don't know..."

"Look, it couldn't hurt to try, could it?" Mariah shrugged. Remus regarded her evenly.

"Who would make it?" Mariah frowned.

"I would. I don't know a few of the ingredients, but I'm sure if I ask Slughorn he wouldn't mind handing them over. Better yet, I can ask Lily to ask him for me. He'd give Lily a thousand galleons if she asked sweetly enough..."

"That doesn't sound like an easy potion."

"Hey, I got an Exceeds Expectations on the Potions O.W.L. Give me some credit," said Mariah.

"Well I would if I wasn't so inclined to distrust you," said Remus. Mariah paused.

"What?"

"You're so secretive, Mariah, sometimes I feel like I barely know you," said Remus. "And since you started going out with Kurt Lovell, things have complicated. I don't know if you'd have ever found out had you not wandered into the Forest that night. It's nothing personal, but I feel like even though you're our friend, you've hidden yourself from us so that we can't know your true intentions... do you know what I'm saying?"

"I... guess I understand," said Mariah slowly, her heart sinking quickly. He didn't consider her a close friend? She understood how he could think that, but... to think that she had ill intentions... And that secret was something that no mere acquaintance would have learned...

"I can't explain this without sounding mean," said Remus, sighing. "Lily wouldn't have found out either, except for she's with James. But you're more like Lily's friend than ours... if you know what I mean. You're not directly involved with us... well, Sirius, but... that's pretty much-"

"Yeah, no I understand." Mariah poked at her food with a fork idly, no longer hungry. Remus sat back down, looking at her.

"...I suppose I don't have anything to lose," he said evenly. Mariah looked back up at him.

"You mean we can try?"

"I guess," said Remus. "The worst that would happen is I turn into a werewolf despite the potion. And I mean, that would happen anyway."

"Thanks, Remus," said Mariah. "I won't let you down." Remus's frown faded.

"No, I don't believe you will."

Classes resumed that Wednesday; however, this was both good and bad. On the plus side, there was no reason to search for things to do. On the downside, Mariah could no longer avoid seeing Sirius.

It started at breakfast that day, when the Marauders arrived to join her and Lily.

"Goooood morning, ladies," said James, slipping into the seat next to Lily and kissing her. "Excited for Defense Against the Dark Arts?"

"Extremely," said Lily, patiently.

"I hear they've changed the curriculum since the raid," said Remus, dropping into a seat on one side of Mariah. "They've got some self-defense tips going on, and how to deflect dark magic."

"Might as well kick the Slytherins out now," said Sirius, sitting on Mariah's other side. "They need a plain Dark Arts course if they want any of them to show up to class."

He glanced at Mariah, as though expecting her to reply, but she didn't comment, instead focusing on her food. Peter piped in.

"Have there been any more attacks here?" he asked, wide-eyed.

"Nothing yet," said Lily," I think the threat of expulsion has got them behaving somewhat, or at least keeping it quiet."

"Yeah, I think if anything happened, we would have heard about it from Mansfield, don't you think?" said James. "He seems one of their prime targets."

As Mariah reached for her goblet, she noticed Sirius staring at her, leaning on his elbow. She ignored him.

"Hey, Mariah."

"Yeah, Sirius?"

"What do _you_ think about all this?"

"All what?"

"The Slytherins. Do you think they'll piss off soon and form their own Academy of Torture?"

Mariah glanced at him once, then went back to her breakfast, shrugging.

"They don't seem to be congregating," she said simply. "Besides, I think you would know better than I would."

"On the contrary," said Sirius, "as you have been most recently in contact with the Slytherins, _you_ would know better than _I_ would."

"Well, I don't," said Mariah, bluntly.

"Speaking of..."

"So, Mariah," interjected Remus, cutting Sirius off, "we didn't see you much over the break; what have you been up to?"

"Er..." Mariah thought a moment. "I went through my trunk..."

"Fascinating," muttered Sirius.

"And I found something weird when I was looking through some books..." continued Mariah hesitantly. She glanced up at Lily. "I don't think _Hellion Hexes_ is all it appears to be."

"You _read_ it!?" exclaimed Sirius. "You must be the first girl in the school to-"

"It's got a charmed page in the middle, or something, that I think shows pictures of people who've read it," said Mariah to the others, ignoring Sirius. "Has it always had that?"

"What do you mean?" asked James. "Who was on it?"

"Well, I was, for one thing," said Mariah. The rest of them stared.

"..._You_ were," repeated Lily slowly.

"Yeah, posing and everything," said Mariah. "It was weird."

"Posing-" started Sirius, raising an eyebrow and moving to drink out of his goblet.

"And then Lily was there."

"Wha-" spluttered Lily, as James choked on his pumpkin juice.

"And Geoff was there too-"

Sirius spat out a large amount of pumpkin juice across the table, soaking James, who was still coughing.

"S-sorry!?" he coughed, waving his wand to dry James off as the other boy calmly removed his glasses and dried them on his robes. "Did... did you say _Mansfield_ was in it!?"

"Yeah. There was this foldout-"

"On a _foldout_!?"

"There weren't any foldouts in the book the last time I saw it," said James, replacing his glasses. He became aware of Lily's hard gaze. "Many years ago," he added.

"Where did you find that again?" asked Lily.

"The Slytherins were looking for it in the Invisibility Section," said Mariah, remembering. "I told you that night. They said Avery had left it for them."

"Do you think this has to do with you three having being involved with Slytherins?" asked Sirius after a moment. Mariah glanced at him. His previously mocking smirk had turned into a pensive frown. She shrugged.

"I have no idea," she said. "I don't see why having pictures of Lily, Geoff and I scantily clad and posing would help them with anything... unless, you know-"

"Thank you, but we won't go there," interjected Lily, raising her eyebrows at her friend. The rest of them turned back to their food, smiling subtly.

"...So how scantily clad were you and Lily?" asked Sirius after a moment.

"Dammit, Sirius," Lily rolled her eyes as James exploded with laughter. Sirius smirked, but it faded slightly as he glanced at Mariah. James stopped laughing suddenly.

"Wait... yeah, no how scantily clad was Lily?"

Just then the large owl from a few days previously fluttered down onto Mariah's plate, giving Mariah a once-over and holding out its leg where a letter was tied. Mariah quickly unfastened it, but Sirius took a grab at it as soon as the owl had moved.

"What's that?"

"Nothing! Give it back!" said Mariah sharply, snatching the letter back. Sirius made another move at it, but Remus took it as it left Mariah's hand, holding it far away from Sirius's reach. He examined the open letter, frowning. Mariah watched him as Sirius leaned to get a look.

"What's it say, Remus?"

"It's from Kurt," said Remus, handing it back to Mariah.

"What?" Sirius made another grab, but Mariah stuffed the letter down the front of her robes and crossed her arms. "What's it say?" demanded Sirius.

"It's not my message to deliver," said Remus casually, taking a drink. He gave Mariah a meaningful look, glanced at his watch and stood up. "I think I'm going to class."

"I'll go, too," said Mariah, looking sideways at Sirius once and standing as well. They walked out quickly before the others could join, and started up the Spiral Staircase.

"He's very... eloquent," said Remus finally.

"Yes," said Mariah, turning red.

"Ok... I'm going to ask you about this once, and then I'm not going to bring it up again," said Remus, turning to face her as they reached the landing. "Are you feeding Kurt Lovell information about what goes on with us?"

"What? No," said Mariah quickly, frowning.

"Is he giving you any information about the Slytherins?"

"No, we never talk about that stuff..."

"I just needed to know." Remus looked very serious. "Mariah, if anyone understands secrets, it's me. A lot of the time they're necessary, but they can get you into trouble, especially nowadays. Now, since you are keeping my secret, I'll keep whatever you tell me, I just want you to know that."

"And you wouldn't tell the others?"

"Yes."

"The only things we've talked about is Sirius being grouchy and the Lestranges stalking me down dark corridors," said Mariah. Lupin raised an eyebrow. "It's not a problem, Kurt's telling them to back off. It's just that they don't approve."

"Alright. Now I want to ask you something else." Remus stopped, looking around at her. "What exactly is your relationship with Lovell?"

"They know that you're sleeping together?" asked Remus.

"We haven't," said Mariah. Remus blinked.

"You haven't? That letter, though..."

"He thinks he's being cute. When we meet, we just end up snogging or something," said Mariah. She reached down her robes, pulling out the letter and unfolding it. "What did he say anywa-" She stopped, staring. "Oh lord... the _Whomping Willow_?"

She put a hand to her face, and Remus felt himself smile for a moment.

The two of them walked to Defense Against the Dark Arts and took their seats, followed by the Slytherins and the rest of the Gryffindors ten minutes later.

"Welcome back, students, I hope you enjoyed your break... well... I hope it was restful to you... I mean..." Professor Delaprec struggled to find an appropriate phrase, but gave up. "In light of recent events, I hope you will not all be disappointed to hear that I have postponed our tests indefinitely in order to issue more practice with defensive magic."

The class cheered. Or at least half of it did. A few of the Slytherins on the other side of the classroom had slipped into whispered discussion, exchanging dark looks. Mariah saw Kurt sitting on the other side of Rodolphus as the brothers sat stonily, looking at the teacher. He looked worried...

"As a result of this recent event, this attack on the Ministry, Dumbledore has deemed it prudent that all students be aware of exactly what we are facing. As you know, recently a certain dark wizard has been gaining an increasing number of followers, and they are responsible for the attack. There have been numerous smaller assaults, some on Muggles, more within the wizarding community, and it is essential that you all, soon to graduate, possess the necessary skills to protect yourselves once you are out in the world. Now, Professor Dumbledore-"

Rodolphus Lestrange's hand shot into the air.

"Excuse me, Professor, but not everyone in this school was a victim of the Ministry raid," he said. "Isn't it a bit unfair to students who do not regard such things as a threat?"

The class was dead silent. Professor Delaprec's eyes were wide, and he was wringing his fingers nervously.

"I'm not sure... I don't..." He cleared his throat. "Mr. Lestrange, these are not merely just because of the dark wizard faction attacking the Ministry, but they are survival skills that one might need to use at any time during their-"

"But Professor, isn't teaching us this material academically a sign that the school is taking a political opinion?" asked Rodolphus, standing.

"Mr. Lestrange, these dark wizards have _killed_ people..." stuttered Delaprec, but Rodolphus had turned to face the Slytherins, a look of disgust apparent on his face.

"I believe this school has given us all of the knowledge it has to offer. We have no more use for it." Behind him, Rabastan stood and exited the desks to join his brother. "If you had any brains, you'd follow our example. The Dark Lord is gaining power. Soon there will be no lesson you can learn in a class that will protect you from his wrath." His eyes trailed across the classroom to focus on Mariah. His mouth twisted. "You scum won't last long. First it will be the Mudbloods, but how long do you halfbloods and blood traitors hope to last?"

James started to leave his seat, but Lily held him down, clutching his arm tightly. Next to Peter, Mariah could see Sirius beginning to move. He quickly took his arm, shaking his head as Sirius looked around wildly at him.

"Let them go." She heard Peter whisper as Sirius thrashed to get up.

"The war is coming," said Rodolphus imperiously, "Better choose your side wisely! And soon."

With that, the boys exited the classroom, leaving Professor Delaprec to collapse in a dead faint.


	27. The Potions Pregame

If anything, the Lestranges walking out of Defense Against the Dark Arts had only strengthened Geoff's resolve to discover the truth. When Joel had given him the promised ingredients for his Polyjuice Potion the morning he returned to Hogwarts, he had advised him to use the second floor girls' lavatory if he wanted to avoid anyone knowing of his plan. He had said that it was the place where he had perfected his skill in brewing love potions, forgetfulness potions, and exploding fluids - the first of which he attributed his marriage to Claire to, and said the second two were useful in warding off the jealous suitors of his various girlfriends throughout the years - and guaranteed that he would not be disturbed, but did not elaborate further. He had also told Geoffrey to say hello to Moaning Myrtle for him.

Glancing quickly left and right to ensure no one was in the corridor, Geoff darted into the bathroom and shut the door behind him as quickly as he could. There was a splash from one of the stalls, and the bottom of his stomach dropped as a sudden wave of panic washed over him - someone was in the bathroom, and he would have to explain why he was there.

His panic evaporated almost instantly, however, as the translucent form of Moaning Myrtle drifted through one of the stall doors, her eyebrows raised.

"What are you doing in here?" she asked. "You shouldn't be in here. You're a _boy_."

He opened and closed his mouth several times as he tried to find words. Finally, he gave her an uneasy smile and, with a tone that he hoped sounded suave, said, "You must be Myrtle."

This, evidently, was not the correct thing to say, as she narrowed her eyes and frowned at him. "Oh, acting like you don't know about Myrtle? Poor, lonely, moping, Moaning Myrtle? You haven't come to throw something at me, have you?"

"Of course not - why would I throw something at you?"

She gave a sniff and began to drift away.

Geoffrey shook his head and selected an empty patch of floor near the sinks where he settled himself, drawing a collapsible cauldron from the pocket of his robes and expanding it to its full size. "Joel sends his regards, by the way," he called after her.

She reappeared from one of the stalls and looked at him suspiciously as he began pulling his ingredients from his bag and laying them out on the floor. "Joel who?"

"Joel Morrison."

"Oh, _him_." Myrtle giggled girlishly to herself and drifted closer. "I remember _him_. He used to come in here all the time and make potions. He was very good at it, you know."

"Yeah, he's a professional potioneer now."

She giggled again. "Still making love potions?"

Geoffrey paused in thought for a moment after lighting a small fire under the cauldron. "That _would_ explain why Claire's stayed married to him all these years."

"Claire? Claire Werley?" Myrtle's giggling had stopped abruptly. Glancing up, he saw that her lips were pursed and she was looking rather cross. "That girl was almost as bad as that Olive Hornby - always making fun of me and accusing me of spying on Joel while he was in the bath. Thought she owned him, she did. Sometimes they'd come in here, you know, between classes for a knee-trembler. Didn't seem to care that poor Moaning Myrtle had to listen to them going at it."

"Couldn't you have just... gone into another bathroom or something?"

"Why should I? I was here first - _they_ should have been the ones to go somewhere else." She gave a sorrowful moan and drifted away back to the stalls. Geoffrey heard a splash and some pitiful, watery sobbing, but chose to ignore it as best he could as he began counting lacewing flies and dropping them into the cauldron.

For a long while, he sat and watched the lacewing flies stew, stirring them occasionally, trying to ignore Myrtle's crying, which was becoming progressively louder as time passed. And then, over Myrtle's sobbing, he heard the bathroom door swing open and froze, eyes wide with the terror of being caught as he turned his head slowly to look at the intruder.

Mariah Jaeger stared at him for a moment, seemingly just as surprised and embarrassed as he was. "Sorry," she muttered. "Wrong bathroom."

"Actually-" But she had already hurried out of the lavatory, the door swinging shut behind her.

He began scrambling to pick up the items he had set on the floor and get out before Mariah returned. He was on his feet and heading for the door, still stuffing a pouch of powdered Bicorn horn into the pocket of his robe when the door opened again and Mariah reentered, looking highly confused.

For a long moment, the two of them looked at each other in silence.

Geoffrey shifted uncomfortably. "I can explain."

She looked at him, trying to decide if she wanted an explanation or not, and then glanced over his shoulder at the simmering cauldron sitting on the bathroom floor as she made an attempt at hiding her own cauldron behind her back. "No, no, it's all good."

"Right, then."

"Right."

Mariah brushed past him and settled herself on the floor beside Geoff's cauldron, pulling her own collapsible cauldron and a stack of books from her bag without comment.

"Oh not _another_ one," Myrtle said, having emerged from her U-bend to see what was happening. "What are you doing here?"

"Hello to you too, Myrtle," Mariah answered.

"I know who _you_ are," Myrtle said, squinting at her. "Jiggery Jaeger, isn't that what Peeves calls you?"

"Shut up, Myrtle," said Mariah, walking to the sinks and setting her things on the ground. She cracked open a book and began flipping through the pages, glancing up at Geoff and eying him suspiciously. "What are you doing in here, exactly?" she asked.

He looked pointedly at her cauldron. "I'll tell you if you'll tell me," he said.

She hesitated. "Don't ask, don't tell?" she asked, holding out a hand.

He nodded, shaking it.

"You two are just going to sit there and talk like I don't exist, aren't you?" Myrtle asked. "Go on then. Everyone else is doing it. No one cares about poor Myrtle, all on her own..."

"Myrtle," said Mariah sharply. "Shut up. Go away. I can't concentrate."

The ghostly girl wailed loudly and shot across the room and through a stall door, promptly throwing herself into the toilet with a loud splash. A puddle of water began to seep across the floor, and Geoff cursed, gathering his things.

"Dammit, Mariah, look what you've made her do!"

"Calm down, Mansfield," said Mariah, pointing her wand at the floor. "_Impervius_!" She sat down in the circle of dry floor, nodding at Geoff with justification.

Geoff frowned and sat back down. He added mercury to his cauldron, stirring it slowly.

Mariah glanced through the recipe open in front of her, then peered over at Geoff, pausing. "Do you, by chance, have any nightshade with you?"

"No," said Geoff shortly.

Mariah glanced back at the recipe. "What about dittany?"

"No."

"Cauliflower?"

"You know," said Geoff, turning to her, "when you're brewing a potion... it's generally a good idea to bring the ingredients with you."

"Where the hell am I supposed to get dittany around here?" Mariah asked, frowning. "A lot of this stuff isn't even available in the store cupboards."

"What are you making?" asked Geoff, leaning over to glance at the potion recipe.

"Don't ask, don't tell, remember?" Mariah said, jerking the book away so he couldn't see.

"Slughorn should have whatever you need," Geoff said, turning back to his own potion.

"I can't just walk up and ask Slughorn for this stuff," said Mariah. "It's too conspicuous. And since you're brewing your potion in the _girl's_ lavatory, I'm guessing you don't want him to know about your little project, either."

Geoff fell silent, turning to his book for the next step, and cursed.

"Damn... I forgot..."

"Forgot what?"

"An ingredient. I forgot to ask my-what are you smiling about?"

"I have an idea," Mariah said, grinning. "I've got detention this Tuesday in Slughorn's office. I could probably help you slip in to gather what we need and get back out again, what do you say?"

"Why don't you just get them?"

"I can't carry all that back, and I can't take it all without being seen," said Mariah.

Geoff nodded. "All right," he said. "We'll do it."

Mariah beamed at him. "Oh, and point of interest," she added, pulling a sheet of parchment and quill from her bag to begin writing a list of what she needed, "the Union Jack really does suit you."

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, nothing."

Since the Lestranges had walked out on Wednesday, Emilie had kept mainly to herself, sitting with Severus and Kurt when she wanted company. Rosier and his gang had been generally ignoring her since she had shown up at Slughorn's party with Geoff, and most of the other Slytherins had been avoiding her, afraid of being seen as a non-supporter by Rosier and his gang. As she had not done anything to actively oppose Rosier and his cronies, they hesitated to label her a blood-traitor, but they seemed omnipresent, as though waiting for her to slip up and show that her allegiance lay with the Muggle-borns and half-bloods.

Saturday morning before the Ravenclaw-Gryffindor match, Rosier had approached her at breakfast with a peace offering. She had thrown it back in his face when he had coupled it with an offer of a date the next Hogsmeade weekend, and their discussion had escalated into an argument that had lost them a solid thirty house points apiece from McGonagall. Fuming, Emilie climbed the stands and looked around until she found Severus and Kurt already seated near the back. She pushed her way through the other students and settled herself between them, arms folded across her chest, scowl firmly in place.

"Well, don't you look like a ray of sunshine this morning," Kurt said.

"_You_ try putting up with that insufferable-"

"My money's on Ravenclaw for the match," Severus said, cutting across her. "Shall we say... five Galleons for Ravenclaw to win?"

"Make it six. McKinnon's got a Nimbus this year. I'm feeling good about Gryffindor."

Severus gave him an appraising look. "Just because you're rounding the bases with a Gryffindor every night doesn't mean they're going to win."

"Rounding the bases - what does that even _mean_?"

"It's an American term. A pen friend at the Salem Witches' Institute used it to describe-"

Emilie made a disgruntled sort of noise. "Do you two not care that Evan Rosier is an insufferable prick?"

"Shouldn't it be about time for the match to start?" Kurt asked, standing to peer over the heads of the students in front of him to stare down at the pitch. "Ah, there we go. Yes, Gryffindor's definitely going to win - hope you have your Galleons ready, Severus."

A whistle blew, and the fourteen players rose into the air as the Quaffle was released. Before the first minute was up, Severus was looking smug as Ravenclaw scored.

"I mean, really. He's trying to get all the Slytherins to side with him, and says I don't have any friends, but I have more friends than he does," Emilie went on. "What does he have? A couple of thugs to follow him around?"

"What the hell is Potter doing? He took the bat from King - is that even _legal_?" Severus looked around sharply at Kurt as though accusing him of cheating on their bet, but the other boy gave a nonchalant shrug.

Emilie gave an irritable sigh. "Are you two even listening to me?" she asked.

As the boys began arguing about whether or not it was acceptable for a chaser to use a beater's bat, Emilie stood and made her way down the stands, ignoring several people as they swore at her for stepping on their feet or blocking their views. Once at the bottom of the stands, she hesitated. She hadn't particularly been all too concerned with the match to begin with; she didn't care who won the match. Either way, they'd be slaughtered by the Slytherin team later in the season. She had half a mind to turn back to the castle and go to the library to study, knowing it would be empty. She had made up her mind and begun to turn toward the castle when she heard something that made her pause.

"...do this, Mansfield. I really don't think you want any more scars on that mug of yours."

"Go ahead and try me, Rosier. Or are you too scared to take me on without Mulciber and Avery to back you up?"

Emilie heard Rosier snarl and the wooden stairs beneath him creak as he made a lunge at Geoffrey. There was a crash a moment later and a loud curse. Cautiously, she peered around the corner to see Rosier and Geoffrey facing each other with murderous looks on their faces, wands in hand.

"I don't need Avery and Mulciber to deal with _you_," Rosier said.

"That's funny - you did last time."

Rosier flung his wand out and a snake flew from the end; a deft slicing motion from Geoffrey, and the serpent landed on the ground in two pieces, where it evaporated in a puff of green smoke.

Geoffrey raised his wand above his head and a flaming whip erupted from the end, cutting through the air to be deflected by a shield charm from Rosier. He raised his wand to deflect another hex from Rosier.

Emilie pulled her own wand from her pocket and leapt down between them, throwing up a shield charm. "Stop it - _both_ of you," she said. "If anyone catches you fighting again-"

"You're in luck, Mansfield. Delacroix is here to save the day again." Rosier made a noise of disgust and rolled his eyes. "What do I care if they chuck me out?" he asked. "Not like I have anything else to learn here. I should have walked out with Rodolphus and Rabastan." All the same, he dropped his wand back into his pocket. "Get out of here, Mansfield. And next time I catch you trying to hex me will be the last time. That goes for you, too, Delacroix." He turned and made his way up the stairs into the stands.

"Emilie, I told you, I don't need you to protect me," Geoff said once Rosier had gone.

"I was just trying to help," she said. "That's what friends do."

"You're right," he said. "I'm sorry." He looked down, sheepish, and tucked his wand back into his robes.

"Come on," she said, holding out a hand to him. "Let's go watch the match."

He looked at her hand, hesitating. "I don't know if that's such a good idea," he said. "Not after that bit with Rosier. Besides, I... have some homework I should be getting to. I'll see you around, Em."

He gave her a half smile and turned, making his way back up to the castle. She watched him for a moment, frowning, then shook her head and returned to her seat with Kurt and Severus.


	28. After Hours Afterparty

The common room was packed. Everyone had filed in after the match, holding McKinnon aloft and cheering. The Marauders disappeared temporarily and, soon enough, had returned with tons of butterbeer and sweets from Honeydukes. Someone set off a few fireworks that danced around the room for half an hour at a time.

"And then... and then," gasped Lily, "he turned around...and there was frogspawn aaaaalll over his backside, and slugs were coming out his ears!" She and Mariah cackled loudly, spilling their butterbeer on the couch.

"This other night-ow!" She broke off as Sirius dropped into the seat next to her, leaning agains the armrest and draping his legs across Mariah's lap.

"Make way, commoners, for I have arrived," he said. Mariah pushed his legs off with a roll of her eyes, turning back to Lily.

"Anyway, the way he kisses... I swear it's like I have butterflies in my veins all over..."

"Who you talking about?" asked Sirius. Mariah glanced at him.

"My _boyfriend_," she said pointedly. Sirius nodded slowly.

"Ah, I was wondering, because you know that could have been either one of us."

"Oh, Sirius, come on, it's a party. Stop trying to pick a fight," said Lily, waving him off.

"No, no, I'm truly interested," he looked at Mariah. "So he snogs as well as you imagined, does he?"

"Better than you," said Mariah, feeling mean.

"Oh yeah?" Sirius draped one arm over the back of the couch behind her. "Well, maybe your memory's a little off. Let me help you with that." He leaned in, but Mariah lifted the butterbeer in time that his lips met the bottle.

"Give it a rest," she said, turning back to Lily. "Don't you think it's weird he only does this when he's drunk?"

"I'm not drunk," said Sirius, looking offended.

"You're such a liar," muttered Mariah, grabbing at a chocolate frog leaping across the back of the couch. It hopped out of reach, but James caught it handily and tossed it back to her as he settled himself on the armrest, putting an arm around Lily.

"Not all at once, but who's the best Quidditch captain in the history of the world?" he asked with a smirk.

"Would that be you?" suggested Lily.

"You know, it _would_," said James, leaning down to kiss her. The kiss lengthened and James turned slowly, stepping over Lily and moving slowly towards where Mariah sat. The girl moved quickly as James dropped to the couch, but soon realized she'd scrambled right into Sirius's lap. He flashed her a grin.

"You couldn't stay away, could you? See this face, it's like a magnet." He swooped in on Mariah's face, but she turned to the side at the last moment so he kissed her cheek instead. "Oy, come on, what's your problem?" said Sirius angrily, pulling back.

"I've got a _boyfriend_, Sirius!"

"He's not here though, is he? It's a party, Mariah, enjoy yourself," said Sirius, rolling his eyes. Mariah hesitated, but pressed on.

"I can't enjoy myself if you're forcing your tongue down my throat," she said.

"Look at this face," Sirius gave her a dashing smirk, "now tell me you don't want to eat that up."

"No... not really..." mumbled Mariah. Not quite not really. Sirius dropped the look.

"Maybe you need a little more encouragement," he said, pushing her bottle towards her mouth. Mariah pushed it away, struggling to get out of his lap.

"Maybe you need a little less air in your head," she said. Sirius grabbed her arm as she stood, getting to his feet and pulling her in close to him.

"Just what is so great about this guy?" he asked in an undertone.

"Well for one thing, he doesn't wait until there's _competition_ to ask out a girl, and he doesn't have to get them _drunk_ to get them to kiss him," hissed Mariah, breaking her arm free of Sirius's grip and walking away. Sirius watched her go with increasing frustration, and then he followed.

"Hey!" he called after her. "Don't walk away from me!" Mariah made her way through the crowd and exited the portrait hole into the hall. Sirius shoved his way out behind her as it started to swing shut, causing the Fat Lady to protest indignantly. "Alright, we're settling this now! No more running away!"

"What do you _want_ from me, Sirius!?" asked Mariah helplessly.

"Being asked out for a one-night thing is different. What I cannot _fathom_ is how you can go and fall for a snake-faced, scumbag Slytherin without even giving me a chance," said Sirius. Mariah put a hand to her face.

"Sirius, you don't really like me like that," she said.

"Oh yeah? Why not?" asked Sirius, crossing his arms expectantly.

"The only reason you think you like me is because you saw another guy take a pass at me, and you want to prove that you can win against him," said Mariah.

"That's not true."

"Oh isn't it? Then why _do_ you like me? What about me makes you keep wanting to snog me, if it's not revenge against the Slytherins?"

Mariah glared at Sirius, waiting for an answer. He looked back stonily.

"Is that why you thought I'd been ignoring you before?" he asked after a moment.

"Yes."

"Since when! Since when have I ignored you?" demanded Sirius.

"The entire time I've been at Hogwarts up until now," said Mariah. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Mariah, that wasn't ignoring, that was _not having any idea who the hell you were_! And now that we know each other and I'm showing you I like you, you're going to reject me just because I didn't make a pass at you when we were twelve?"

"There were plenty of years in between then and now when you were going after every other girl in the school! You never even looked at me twice until Lily and James started going out!" said Mariah, crossing her arms. "What, did you think I just _appeared_ when that happened? And even then you didn't talk to me! You only started really talking _this year_, and you started trying to snog me all over the place only after I said that I'd met someone!"

Sirius opened his mouth to reply and paused, struggling for an answer.

"Well, I'm not ignoring you now, am I?" he said finally.

"No, now you're doing everything you can to make my life miserable," sighed Mariah. Sirius raised his eyebrows.

"Oh, I'm making _your_ life miserable," he repeated.

"Yes!"

"How?"

"Don't be stupid!" exclaimed Mariah. "When you're not busy insulting Kurt, you're pinning me down and trying to snog me! Because of you, I almost broke it off with him in order to keep any friends at all!"

"You almost broke up with him because of me?" asked Sirius, eyebrows raised.

"Yes!" shouted Mariah angrily.

"Tell me, Mariah," said Sirius finally, "if anyone else had been frustrated with you going out with him, would you really care _this_ much?"

"No one else could make me this miserable!" blurted Mariah, throwing her arms up in exasperation. To her surprise, Sirius laughed. She watched him, clueless, her confusion working its way through her frustration. Sirius walked closer to her, amused.

"You really do like me, don't you?"

"_What_?"

"That's it. You fancy me... and thats why I get under your skin..."

"I-" Mariah broke off as Sirius seized her by the waist and pulled her in, grinning. Without a word, he pressed his lips to hers, and for a moment Mariah forgot herself. The butterbeer taste flooded her mouth as he hooked his tongue around hers. It was less ferocious than the last time she'd kissed him, but just as firm. She felt her body dipping and a pressure in her lower back, confusion flooding through the blankness of her mind. It felt like heaven, being held like this.

"Stop," she said suddenly, and was surprised to hear it come out sounding choked. Sirius pulled away slowly, looking at her. He was no longer grinning, but Mariah could hear him breathing as fast as she was. He sighed then, and, with something more than disappointment, released her.

"You're not giving this up, then."

"What? No, course I'm not-" Sirius turned and started back towards the common room. Mariah watched him go, feeling inexplicably hollow. "Sirius-"

"You were right. Guess I don't really like you like I thought I did," replied the boy, looking back at her with his usual careless casualty and shrugging lightly. Mariah stared.

"What?" she asked slowly. Sirius shook his head, looking away from her the mocking smile still set on his face.

"My mistake." He shrugged, and his smile slowly dropped. "But that doesn't change the fact that you're playing right into their hands." He disappeared through the portrait hole. Mariah stood there looking after him for a moment. Shortly after, she started after him, closing the portal behind her.

Mariah pushed through the crowd, looking for Remus. She spotted him talking to McKinnon near the windows and made her way towards him, taking his arm.

"Remus..."

"Oh hey, Mariah," said Remus, smiling. His expression faded as he saw her face. "What's the matter?"

"Sirius is..." She stopped, lost for words. Remus looked at McKinnon.

"Hey, good job today, I'll talk to you later, okay?" He took Mariah's arm and led her off towards a corner of the common room, sitting her down in an armchair and crouching in front of her. "What happened?"

"He... I don't know..." She broke off, confused. Remus opened his mouth to ask something else, but at that moment, they turned around to see Sirius fall over the armrest of the vacant armchair across from them, joined shortly by both Gwenog Jones and Corvenia Parsett, who then proceeded to snuggle in as tightly as they could from the armrests of the chair and attempt to fit both of their tongues in his mouth.

"Let's go somewhere else," said Remus softly, giving Mariah a hand up from the chair. He led her past Sirius towards the boys dormitories, setting her on a step halfway up. "What's the matter?"

"We... had a row... and then he kissed me out of nowhere."

"Mariah, this has been happening for weeks," said Remus.

"No, but then he said... he said he agreed with me."

"He what?" asked Remus, surprised. Mariah nodded.

"Yeah, he said he didn't like actually like me, and stormed off back here. And now he's slobbering all over those two..."

"He changed his mind?" asked Remus. He looked impressed. "Maybe he's trying to uncomplicate things for you. If that's the case... that's the first time I've seen him do anything like that..."

"No, there's no way that's it," said Mariah. "He can't just-" She broke off as Sirius appeared on the stairs below them. "You're a real cunt, you know that?" His grin was replaced by a look of disdain.

"Oh, like I care. You're not much better."

"What the hell was that back there? Were you just playing me up to see if you could get in my knickers this whole time?"

"Ooh, you finally caught on to my master plan," growled Sirius, leaning against the wall. "Well, I've given up now. You're really too stubborn." Mariah felt a shock of hurt momentarily, but instantly compensated it with anger.

"At least I don't use people as playthings," she shot. Sirius glared.

"Oh yeah, you're too busy being used to use people. You're so gullible, Mariah, it's a wonder no one's asked you out before. Those Slytherins will be glad to have you."

"How many girls have left you Sirius? I've seen you with quite a few over the years. Guess you didn't have anything in particular to keep them interested long," sneered Mariah.

"But the ones I choose don't have a history of murdering Muggles," he replied.

"Oh, but you always choose the ones with the most class. Where was it Filch caught you with Gwenog last? That girl's lavatory on the third floor?"

"There's nothing wrong with that lavatory. It's better than a deserted corridor on the fifth floor."

"You..." Mariah looked outraged. "You were _following_ us!?"

"Hey, you snuck off with a Slytherin on your own, what did you expect me to do? If he'd tried to pull anything-"

"You think _everyone's_ trying to pull something, Sirius!" exclaimed Mariah.

"Well he did, didn't he?" pointed out Sirius. Mariah put a hand to her face.

"Sirius, we haven't _done_ anything," she said. "We snogged a bit and came back! If you'd stayed you would have seen that!"

"I wasn't going to sit there and watch you two ride each other like a couple of horses!" said Sirius, looking disgusted.

"We _didn't_!"

"Guess I was reading my _competition_ all wrong then," spat Sirius. "Should've just stuck to who could get the most snogging out of you! I know! First one to your tits wins!" Mariah stared at him for a long time.

"I tried, Sirius... I really did. And I really value you as a friend, but... I can't hold onto both of you... and if I have to choose, I want you to know that you're going to lose."

"That's alright, I forfeit," said Sirius. Mariah glanced at Remus.

"That's it, I give up. I'll see you tomorrow, Remus." She descended the staircase, brushing past Sirius without another word.

Sirius watched her leave for a moment, then cupped his hands around his mouth. "If you think I'm going to run after you, you can _forget_ it!"

"Sirius," said Remus, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. The boy jerked away and looked around contemptuously.

"Please just stay the fuck away from me, Remus," he said, descending back into the common room, rejoining Gwenog and Corvenia at the foot of the stairs.

Geoffrey looked from the roll of parchment in his hand to the simmering cauldron on the lavatory floor again, rubbing at his eyes with a free hand. He had read through it at least a dozen times and couldn't find anything else to do for the night. He folded the parchment and dropped it into his pocket before giving the cauldron a final stir before standing and making his way out of the girl's lavatory, ignoring Myrtle as she sniffed loudly from one of the stalls.

He made his way up to Gryffindor Tower, passing Mrs. Norris once but disappearing down a hidden passageway before Filch had a chance to show up - he was always mystified at the seemingly telepathic connection that man had with his cat - and stood waiting outside the portrait hole for several long minutes until the Fat Lady returned from one of her midnight visits. She gave him a disapproving frown and a light admonition about being out so late, but swung open at the password.

The common room was nearly deserted. Empty butterbeer bottles littered the floor along with wrappers from Honeydukes sweets. Sirius was sprawled over the arm of a sofa, mouth open and snoring, but jerked away at the sound of the portrait swinging shut. He looked up and blinked around blearily, shaking some of his long dark hair from his face as he yawned.

"Good party, I take it?" Geoffrey asked, carefully stepping around a pile of broken glass as he made his way to where Sirius was sitting.

Sirius frowned and reached behind him, pulling a bra from between the cushions of the sofa. Comprehension dawned on his face and he grinned. "Excellent," he said. A flicker of uncertainty crossed his features. "Except..." He moved over to make room for the redheaded boy. "Listen, I've been meaning to ask you - the Slytherins."

Geoffrey waited for a moment, but that seemed to be the extent of Sirius's thought. "Yeah, what about them?"

"That's my point. What _about_ them? Like that Lovell guy - I don't trust him one bit. Or that - that Delacroix girl you're always hanging around with. I mean, they've got to be _up_ to something, right? I mean, how many Slytherins d'you know that would honestly hang out with guys like you and me? Or that traitorous whore upstairs?"

He hesitated for a moment and decided to go with the assumption that by "traitorous whore upstairs," Sirius meant Mariah. "Well, she's pretty, why wouldn't a guy want to hang out with her?"

"_That's my point exactly_," Sirius said, his eyes widening to emphasize his point. "It makes sense that that cocksucker'd want to get his hands all over her. But I mean, look at _you_. What does that Delacroix bitch see in _you_?"

Geoff frowned, but decided not to take offense at the comment. Judging by the debris scattered across the common room floor, the party had been quite wild and he was sure Sirius had drunk far more than his fair share of whatever drinks they had smuggled in.

"And _furthermore_, if she had any _real_ interest, why does she always just let Rosier'n'them get away after they jump you? I'm telling you, it's a conspiracy. She's just with you so she can spy, and then she goes back to her Death Eater friends to report is that blood?"

Startled by this sudden change of subject, it took Geoffrey a moment to realize what had been said and that Sirius was peering closely at his arm. He looked down and saw that a dark stain was seeping through his sleeve. "Goddamnit, I just bandaged that..."

"Why are you bleeding? Don't tell me you were trying to take on Slytherins single-handedly." He shifted his position on the sofa and belched before continuing. "Look, you can't keep wandering off on your own, Geoff. You've got to learn what the Slytherins already know - _safety in numbers_. Why d'you think Rosier never goes anywhere alone? _Safety in numbers_." He watched Geoff for a moment as the redhead prodded his arm with his wand, muttering under his breath as he tried to dry his robes and staunch the bleeding. "See, you and me, we need to team up. I've got your back, you've got mine. You can't just keep letting them beat you up like that."

"I don't _let_ them beat me up, you know."

"Yeah, well, they still do a pretty good job of it, don't they?" He paused and narrowed his eyes, looking at something over Geoff's shoulder. "Hey, d'you want to grab me that butterbeer over there?"

Geoff rolled his eyes but stood and crossed the room to get the drink. By the time he had returned, Sirius had passed back out, head lolling on the back of the couch. He shook his head and set the bottle down on the end table, then made his way up to the boys' dormitory.


	29. Rivalry

Kurt smiled to himself, feeling the chink of six newly-won Galleons in his moneybag. He looked across the table at Severus, who glanced up.

"Don't look so smug, Kurt, McKinnon must've fallen off his broom three times."

"Yes, but you should've never bet against the Nimbus," said Kurt wisely. He yawned. "When was it we turned in last night?"

"About two in the morning was when Emilie finished her most recent tirade," said Severus with a controlled voice.

"That's right," mused Kurt, toying with his food. "Very outspoken, isn't she?" Severus glowered at him.

"Quite."

Kurt looked up towards the entrance and sighed as he saw the subject of their conversation storming between the tables towards them, the seemingly permanent look of discontent in place. "Brace yourself."

Emilie reached them shortly, dropping her bag onto the table and taking the seat next to Severus. "I can't _believe_ him! Rosier is such an asshole! He tried to jinx me on my way down here!" Kurt and Severus glanced up from their food briefly in mild concern. Emilie went on. "Right as I was coming up the stairs from the dungeons, I tripped and I swear I felt a spell go right over my head! Then when I got up there I could see him running in here!"

"Oh no. Sev, pass the jam," said Kurt, pointing. Emilie shook her head, looking down at her smileyface pancakes, livid. Severus and Kurt glanced at her tentatively after a few minutes, wary of her silence. They looked at each other.

Emilie slammed her fist on the table, making both Severus and Kurt jump and go back to their food. "HE JUST DOESN'T GET IT!"

"You done, Sev?" asked Kurt.

"Yeah, let's go."

The two of them rose and started for the entrance, Emilie following behind them, still seething. They walked in silence, save for Emilie muttering to herself every few minutes, up the Spiral Staircase, turning down a corridor and heading up a few more floors.

"Binns shouldn't give us another essay, we just finished the last one," said Kurt.

"That's never stopped him before," replied Severus.

"_Fuck_, if Rosier tries to get anywhere near me, I'll-" Kurt cut her off with a hand, stopping her at the corner and putting a finger to his lips. She opened her mouth to retort, but then heard voices.

"...has gotten out of control, Sirius."

"What did you expect me to do, James, she's walking right into their-"

"Trap, yes I know what you think. But what if it isn't?"

The three of them pressed closer to the wall, listening intently.

"How could it not be? She was in that book they were looking for! Her and Mansfield! Now who are the only two Gryffindors in any way involved with Slytherin?"

"Besides you?"

"Don't even, James. At least I tried to talk her out of-"

"Sirius, do you remember _anything_?"

"Yes... maybe!"

"You called her a traitorous whore after chasing her the first half of the night, forced her to snog you again, and then went off to snog Gwenog and Corvenia for the second half. If anything, you've driven her further away. You were supposed to _apologize_."

"Yeah, well she wouldn't have listened if I had. She sees what she wants!"

"Remus said something about you telling her that you were only after getting into her knickers. Is that true?"

"Yeah."

"...Really? I thought you liked her?"

"I mean, yeah, I told her that."

"Why the hell did you tell her that?"

"Well... I... Where were you during all of this, James? Last I saw of you last night, you looked like you were trying to suck Lily's organs out with the power of your suckerfish kiss."

There was a laugh, and Kurt felt Severus shift beside him.

"Hah, yeah... but that's not the point. The point _is_, you need to stop torturing her."

"She's the one fraternizing with the enemy," said Sirius. "Think about it, James, there has to be a reason they want her. Mansfield's parents are dead so maybe they're trying to finish him off... and there's probably something like that in store for Mari-"

Kurt stepped out from behind the wall, drawing his wand. James and Sirius went for their wands, but Kurt reached Sirius before he had drawn his, pushing him up against the wall with his wand to his throat. He spoke slowly, tawny eyes locked with Sirius's grey in a threatening stare.

"If you _ever_ talk to her like that again, talk _about_ her like that again, _touch_ her again..."

"Put him down, Lovell," warned James, his wand drawn.

"...or _hurt_ her like that again, I swear I'll find you..."

"I said put him down!" said James again. Kurt took his wand away from the boy's throat, still glaring fiercely. Sirius returned the look, moving closer to James and drawing his wand.

"Speak for yourself, you slimy bastard. Mariah might not be able to see you for what you are, but I can, and I'll be waiting for the day you show your true colors and I can finally get my hands on you," he growled. Kurt backed up a few steps, wrenching his sleeve up, and thrust out his forearm.

"There! See that!" he snapped. "There's your Dark Mark! Oh wait, it doesn't seem to be there!" He tugged his sleeve back down, glaring darkly. "Shows how much you _really_ know." He turned and walked away. James looked from his retreating back to Sirius, and his eyes widened.

"Sirius, _no_!"

A jet of light shot towards Kurt, but he whirled around and deflected it, shooting his own spell back with a few choice words. It hit Sirius squarely in the chest, sending him flying back into the wall behind him, where he slumped to the ground. James crouched beside him as Kurt rounded the corner.

"Are you alright?"

"Jamessthn." Sirius's facial features were sliding down from their original positions, giving him a rather drooping appearance. One of his eyes surpassed his nose and mouth and fell off of his chin, rolling across the floor. It looked up at James as he grabbed it quickly and supported his friend down the hallway, Sirius with one hand against his face to keep the rest of his features in tact.

Around the corner, Kurt strode past Emilie and Severus without a word. Emilie turned to follow him, but Severus caught her, shaking his head, and they slowly continued their way to Binns's class.


	30. Driven to Distraction

Geoff was sitting cross-legged on the floor of the girls' lavatory, feverishly stirring the cauldron in front of him. He was going to kill Sirius if this potion wasn't right because of him. It had been harder and harder to get away to check on the potion and add the necessary ingredients the past couple of days because of Sirius's insistence on safety in numbers. He had managed to slip away while Sirius was ranting incoherently to James about something or other, and was now trying to get the potion back to the grey it had been the week before from the pale lavender it had recently turned.

He looked down at the parchment beside him and frowned. Well, _that_ was the problem. He hadn't added the knotgrass yet. He turned to pick it up from the bathroom floor and saw that it was missing. _All_ of his ingredients were missing. There was the ominous sound of flushing from one of the stalls.

"_Myrtle_!"

The ghostly girl poked her head through the door of a stall. "Yes?"

"Did you flush all of my ingredients? _Do you know how hard it is to get unsucculated leeches around here_?"

"You never talk to me any more," she said with a sniff. "Not since Jiggery Jaeger's been showing up in here. You're using my bathroom, the least you could do is _talk_ to me."

"That's no reason to throw out my supplies!"

Myrtle gave a disdainful sniff and drifted away, leaving Geoffrey fuming. He sighed. Well, he was going down to the store room, anyway - it wouldn't kill him to have to replace his ingredients. Scowling to himself, he stood and picked up his bag from the floor. The inside of it had had an expansion charm cast on it to ensure all the ingredients would fit - Mariah's list of items had been quite extensive, and now Geoff had to grab additional things for himself. He gave Myrtle a final spiteful glance as he left and began making his way down to the dungeons.

A small tin of crystallized pineapple laced with a sleeping potion was in his pocket, just in case their plan went awry and Slughorn returned to his office before they expected him to. Not that that was particularly likely - Slughorn tended to go for long strolls across the grounds after dinner to help with his digestion. They had perhaps an hour and a half - plenty of time for Geoff to get what they needed and get out. Reaching the potions dungeon, he rapped on the door four times - the agreed upon signal - and waited. Presently, it was opened by Mariah, and she ushered him in. She directed him to Slughorn's office as she returned to the desk where she was working.

"So what's Slughorn having you do, exactly?" Geoff asked, eying the pile of glass vials in front of her.

"Make all of these impervious," she said, picking one up and tapping it with her wand. "And when I'm done here, I get to make _those_ impervious-" She pointed to another tableful of vials. "-and after that, those over there."

"Well, you have fun with that. You don't happen to know where he keeps the knotgrass, do you?"

"Knotgrass? It's over there in the cabinet where he keeps all his herbs. I thought you had some of that already."

"I _did_. Myrtle flushed all my supplies out of spite. Evidently I don't pay enough attention to her." He rolled his eyes. "Oh, here it is. What all did you need? Aconite, dittany..."

"Venomous Tentacula leaves that haven't been - _hide_." As the handle of the heavy dungeon door turned, she seized him by the back of his robes and hauled him down behind a cauldron. Filch's head poked in through the doorway, his eyes darting around the dungeon suspiciously.

"Talking to yourself, Jaeger? Just can't keep your mouth shut, can you? There's a reason we put you in here _by yourself._ Now keep it quiet. This is _punishment_!" He scowled at her and withdrew his head from the doorway, shutting the door with an ominous thud.

"Sorry about that. He's been dropping in periodically to make sure I haven't wrecked anything. Really, he should be more worried about Bagman setting something on fire." She rolled her eyes and picked up another vial as Geoffrey straightened and headed back toward the cabinet.

"Bagman's down here?"

"Yeah, he and Lockhart are in the next dungeon over, scouring cauldrons. If Bagman doesn't burn something, Lockhart'll break it trying to get a better look at his reflection." She rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, probably. So what all did you need, again?"

She thought for a moment. "Venomous Tentacula leaves that haven't been dried, a handful of Doxy eggs, and... some Snakeweed. I gave you a list."

"Yes, well, Myrtle flushed that along with my ingredients."

"She didn't flush the actual _potions_ did she?"

"No, thank God for-"

"_Quick, get into that cauldron_!"

Geoff looked dubious but as the handle of the heavy door opened again, he grimaced and climbed into the large cauldron, trying not to think about the slimy something his foot had landed in at the bottom.

"At least you're a hard worker, Jaeger, I'll give you that much," Filch said, shuffling into the dungeon and picking up one of the vials to inspect her work. "Lockhart can't stop looking at himself long enough to scrub a cauldron, and Bagman's broken four vases already." His customary scowl deepened. "They ought to bring back the old ways. What I'd give for a good flogging... God, I miss the screaming. Mark my words, Jaeger, if they brought back the old punishments, there'd be no disciplinary problems." He trailed off, muttering to himself, and shuffled back out of the dungeon.

Mariah glanced over at Geoff's hiding place. "All right in there?"

"I'd be much better if I wasn't covered in bubotuber pus residue," he said, clambering out.

She gave an offhand shrug as he opened the door of the supply cabinet and began dropping their needed items into the expanded bag. Just as he was scooping in some Doxy eggs, the handle of the door turned a third time. Before Mariah had the chance to hiss "into that cabinet" or "quick, under the table," he dove behind her, trusting that Filch would stay in the doorway as he had on the previous two visits.

Filch, however, was not their concern.

Emilie Delacroix had entered the dungeon and seemed to be debating with herself whether or not to say something. "Mariah."

Mariah tossed her head in greeting. "Emilie."

Emilie shifted uncomfortably and swept past the table where Mariah was working, heading straight for Slughorn's desk and rifling through the papers on top until she found a book that had been buried under a stack of parchment. She drummed her fingers on the cover for a moment, and then turned back to Mariah. "Hey, listen, I was wondering-" She caught sight of Geoff crouching behind the Gryffindor girl and broke off. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," he said defensively, standing.

She slid the book off the desk and held it up. "Slughorn's letting me borrow this to study for my N.E.W.T.s Now what are _you_ doing sneaking around in here?"

"I'm not _sneaking_," he said. "And isn't it a bit early for N.E.W.T.s?"

"Not sneaking, right. That's why you hid when I came in the door," she said, eyeing him suspiciously. She gave him a quick smile, then turned and headed toward the door. "See you around, Mariah, Geoff."

"See you, Emilie," Mariah said. Her eyes slid over to Geoff, but he had already turned back to the supply cabinet and was scooping Doxy eggs into the bag.

"I'm going to start heading back upstairs, then," he said. "Before Filch comes back again, you know. Lots of work to do." He gave Mariah a smile and a short wave before exiting the dungeon and heading back up to the second floor.


	31. In the Shack, 1994

**June 6, 1994**

Geoff couldn't help but feel that Dumbledore was taking this awfully well. As they walked across the sloping grounds toward the gamekeeper's hut with the Minister of Magic, an old committee member, and an executioner wielding a hefty axe, the headmaster's expression was exceptionally serene. Beneath his silver beard, Geoff would swear that Dumbledore was actually smiling.

When Hagrid opened the door of his hut, his face was splotchy and red, and his voice cracked as he invited them inside.

"Cuppa tea?" Hagrid asked, wiping his nose with a large spotted handkerchief.

"No, thank you, Hagrid," Fudge said, pulling a roll of parchment and spreading it out on the table. "I think it's best if we get down to business."

Hagrid seated himself between Fudge and the committee member as the wizened old man began to read the parchment, outlining Buckbeak's sentencing. They had to stop several times to allow the half-giant to regain his composure.

"And now, if everyone will sign as witnesses?" the committee member said. "Yes... good... and Professor Mansfield, if you will accompany us outside to inspect the hippogriff?"

Geoff gave a short nod, and the group of men stood and walked outside, Fang whimpering as Hagrid blubbered for him to stay inside. As Hagrid stepped outside the back door, he nearly sent Fudge flying into the committee member and Geoff. The group had stopped short, staring at the spot in Hagrid's garden where the hippogriff had been tied mere minutes before.

"Where is it?" asked the committee member. "Where is the beast?"

"It was tied here!" said the executioner furiously. "I saw it! Just here!"

"How extraordinary," said Dumbledore. There was a note of amusement in his voice that Geoff did not miss as he heaved his own sigh of relief.

"Beaky!" said Hagrid huskily as the executioner swung his axe at the fence. "Gone! Gone! Bless his little beak, he's gone! Musta pulled himself free! Beaky, yeh clever boy!"

"Someone untied him!" the executioner said, wrenching his axe free from the fence. "We should search the grounds, the forest."

"Macnair, if Buckbeak has indeed been stolen, do you really think the thief will have led him away on foot?" said Dumbledore. Now Geoff was sure the old man had been smiling; somehow, he had known the hippogriff would escape. "Search the skies, if you will... Hagrid, I could do with a cup of tea. Or a large brandy."

"I think I'll join you for that brandy," Geoff said, and the committee member agreed, following Hagrid and the headmaster back into the gamekeeper's hut, leaving Fudge and Macnair gaping around the garden after the missing hippogriff.

A quick search of the cupboards revealed a shortage of brandy, and Dumbledore volunteered his own personal stores of elf-made wine. In the dying light of the evening, they made their way back across the grounds toward the castle, Dumbledore leading the group at a surprisingly brisk pace despite his age, the old committee member keeping equal pace, apparently encouraged by the promise of elfin wine.

A commotion near the edge of the Forbidden Forest caught Geoff's eye, and for a moment he thought it was the hippogriff. "I'll catch up," he called, but nobody seemed to hear him over the cacophonous singing that Hagrid had taken up in his exuberance.

He hurried over to the treeline, and finally the silhouette of the Whomping Willow came into focus in the rapidly growing darkness, and he heard Harry, Ron, and Hermione shouting over some sort of snarling animal.

He froze, the color draining from his face. _Remus_.

A cat leapt onto the trunk of the Willow, and the tree's thrashing came to a sudden halt. The sight of one of the boys being dragged under the tree's roots by a large dog, the other two following close behind, spurred Geoff back into motion. Within seconds, he was at the tree, but wasn't fast enough - whatever the cat had done to it had worn off, and its branches were back in motion, swinging wildly.

He stared at the tree helplessly for a moment. The cat had done something to the trunk - but what?

"Geoff!"

Geoff turned at the sound of his name. "Remus? But I thought..." He glanced up at the sky and saw that the moon was completely obscured. "If that wasn't you, then who-?"

"There isn't time," Remus said, grabbing a fallen branch from the ground and extending it toward the trunk of the tree. "We have to hurry. I'll explain on the way."

"On the way-?"

Remus touched a large knot on the trunk, and the tree froze, just as it had before. Remus grabbed Geoff by the elbow and hauled him forward, down to a passage hidden among the tree's roots.

"Remus, wait. Explain - what is happening? I thought I saw you drag Weasley-"

"It was Sirius," Remus said shortly. "Come on, we can't stop."

"Sirius? What? But - where are we going?"

"The Shrieking Shack. This is the tunnel Dumbledore used to smuggle me off the grounds when we were in school. Peter would touch the knot on the tree, to stop it moving, and then we could get through the tunnel."

"Peter? Surely you don't mean Peter Pettigrew? He would come with you?"

"They all would - Peter, Sirius, and James. They didn't at first, but once they found out that I wasn't really going off to visit my ill mother every month, they became Animagi so I wouldn't be a threat to them."

Geoff stopped short. "_Animagi_? That's - that's really advanced magic. You're saying they did this in school?"

"Yes, I know, I know, it was crazy, now come on." Remus grabbed his friend's elbow again and continued pulling him down the passageway. "Sirius becomes a dog. That's why you thought he was me, as a wolf, pulling Ron into the passageway."

"But... of course, that would explain why Harry was talking about the Grim! He must have been following him all year," panted Geoff, running after Remus. "But what does Sirius want with Weasley?"

"I don't know. But, Geoff - I think we were wrong. Do you remember the map we made?"

"Of course, but what does that have to do-"

"I saw Peter on it. He's alive. He was here - at Hogwarts - tonight. And if he's alive-"

"_Peter_!? Peter _Pettigrew_?" Geoff stopped running. Remus stopped, but motioned urgently.

"We have to keep moving!"

"But... how... there's no way-"

"The map never lies, Geoff," said Remus. Geoff stared at him.

"But then... then Sirius didn't kill him..."

"Exactly," said Remus, setting his jaw. "And if he didn't kill Peter, then maybe he didn't kill James and Lily." Geoff stared at him, then took off running with renewed energy, Remus close behind.

They had finally emerged into a disordered, dusty room of the Shrieking Shack and were making their way toward the stairs when they heard Hermione's shrill voice yelling down at them.

"WE'RE UP HERE! WE'RE UP HERE - SIRIUS BLACK - QUICK!"

The two men looked at each other, nodded in mutual understanding, and drew their wands, running up the stairs at full speed. They blasted the door open in a shower of sparks and hurtled into the room, their eyes sweeping across the scene: Ron lying on the floor, his leg bent at a sickening angle; Hermione cowering next to the door; Harry standing over Sirius, his wand pointed at the man's chest; Sirius himself, crumpled and bleeding at Harry's feet, Crookshanks still lying on his chest.

"_Expelliarmus_!" the two men shouted in unison, and the wands that Harry and Hermione were holding flew across the room and neatly into their hands.

"Where is he, Sirius?" Remus asked, crossing to Sirius.

Harry looked between the two men, trying to understand what was happening. He hadn't the faintest idea who "he" was, but then, slowly, Sirius raised a hand and pointed directly at Ron.

Geoff and Remus looked at each other, exchanging brief glances.

"Why hasn't he shown himself before now? Unless..." Remus's expression turned from one of confusion to one of comprehension. "You switched," he said softly, "without telling me. And he was the one..."

Slowly, Sirius nodded, his gaze remaining fixed on Remus.

"Professor," Harry interrupted loudly, "what's going on-?"

Slowly, Remus lowered the wands he held in his hand, crossed to Sirius and hauled him to his feet, spilling Crookshanks to the ground, and embraced the gaunt man like a brother.

For a moment, time seemed to stop, and Harry felt as though the bottom had dropped out of his stomach.

"DON'T BELIEVE IT!" Hermione shrieked. In an instant, she was off the floor, thrusting an accusing finger at Remus, her eyes wide and wild. "You - you - you and him! I didn't tell anyone! I've been covering up for you!"

"Hermione, listen to me, please!" Remus shouted. "I can explain-"

"_I trusted you_!" Harry yelled. He was shaking with a fresh wave of fury, a sense of betrayal washing over him. "And all this time you've been his friend!"

"You're wrong," said Lupin. "I haven't been Sirius's friend, but I am now. Let me explain-"

"NO!" Hermione cut in. "Harry, don't trust him - he's been helping Black get into the castle. He wants you dead, too - he's a werewolf!"

There was a ringing silence, and all eyes were on Lupin, who looked remarkably calm, though rather pale.

"And you-" Harry rounded on Geoff. "You were part of this, too?"

"No on here wants you dead, Harry," he said. "If they did, you would have been dead long before now. Let Remus explain."

"Hermione got only one out of three correct; not at all up to her usual standard," Remus said. "I have not been helping Sirius get into the castle, and I certainly do not want Harry dead. But I won't deny that I am a werewolf. How long have you known?" he added to the girl.

"Ages," Hermione whispered. "Since Professor Snape assigned the essay."

"He'll be delighted," Remus said, forcing a laugh. "You are by far the cleverest witch of your age I've ever met, Hermione."

"I'm not," she said, still whispering. "If I were cleverer, I'd have told everyone. Dumbledore would have-"

"Dumbledore knew when he hired me. He knew when I was at school. He worked very hard to convince certain teachers that I'm trustworthy-"

"AND HE WAS WRONG!" Harry yelled, cutting him off. "YOU'VE BEEN HELPING HIM ALL THE TIME! BOTH OF YOU!" He was pointing at Black, who suddenly crossed to the four-poster bed and sank onto it, his face hidden in one shaking hand.

"We haven't," Remus said, tossing Ron and Harry's wands back to them as Geoff did likewise with Hermione's. "Now please, give me a chance to explain."

Harry stared at the wand in his hand as Remus and Geoff tucked their own wands into their robes, suspecting a trick. Frowning, he looked up at his professor as he began to explain everything - the map, the Marauders, and watching their progress that evening from his office, seeing Sirius run toward him and drag not one, but two figures into the Whomping Willow.

"One of us!" Ron interjected.

"No, two of you," Remus corrected. "Could I have a look at your rat?"

Ron clutched the rat closer, defensively. "What's Scabbers got to do with it?" he asked.

"Everything." He took a step closer to Ron, looking intently at Scabbers.

"That's not a rat," Sirius croaked suddenly. "He's an Animagus by the name of Peter Pettigrew."

"Peter Pettigrew's dead!" said Harry. "_He_ killed him twelve years ago!" He pointed at Black, whose face twitched convulsively.

"I meant to," he growled, his yellow teeth bared, "but little Peter got the better of me... not this time, though!"

"Sirius, NO!" Geoff yelled, launching himself forwards to intercept Sirius as he threw himself at Ron. "WAIT! You can't do it just like that - they need to understand - we've got to explain - they've - got - a - right - to - know - everything! And Harry - you owe Harry the truth, Sirius!"

Black stopped struggling, though his hollowed eyes were still fixed on Scabbers, who was clamped tightly under Ron's bitten, scratched, and bleeding hands.

"There were witnesses who saw Pettigrew die," Harry said. "A whole street full of them..."

"Everyone thought Sirius killed Peter," said Remus, nodding. "I believed it myself - until I saw the map tonight. Because the Marauder's map never lies... Peter's alive. Ron's holding him, Harry."

Harry looked at Ron, and as their eyes met, he knew they had arrived at the same conclusion: these men were all mad. Scabbers could not be Peter Pettigrew.

"But all Animagi are registered with the Ministry of Magic," Hermione said quietly. "We went over them in Transfiguration. There have only been seven this century, and Pettigrew's name wasn't on the list."

"Right again, Hermione," Remus said, and he sounded almost proud. "But the Ministry didn't know that there were three unregistered Animagi running-"

Lupin broke off. There had been a loud creak behind him. The bedroom door had opened of its own accord. All six of them stared at it. Then Lupin strode toward it and looked out into the landing.

"This place is haunted!" said Ron.

"It's not," said Lupin, still looking at the door in a puzzled way. "The Shrieking Shack was never haunted... The screams and howls the villagers used to hear were made by me." He went on to explain how he had become a werewolf and Dumbledore had smuggled him off the grounds in his schooldays, before the invention of the Wolfsbane Potion. He explained how Harry's father and his friends had become Animagi, and how they had created the Marauders' map.

Remus's face had hardened as he neared the end, and there was self-disgust in his voice. "All this year, I have been battling with myself, wondering whether I should tell Dumbledore that Sirius was an Animagus. But I didn't do it. Why? Because I was too cowardly. It would have meant admitting that I'd betrayed his trust while I was at school, admitting that I'd led others along with me... and Dumbledore's trust has meant everything to me. He let me into Hogwarts as a boy, and he gave me a job when I have been shunned all my adult life, unable to find paid work because of what I am. And so I convinced myself that Sirius was getting into the school using dark arts he learned from Voldemort, that being an Animagus had nothing to do with it... so, in a way, Snape's been right about me all along."

"That's right," sneered a cold voice from the wall behind Remus. "I was right."

Severus Snape was pulling off the Invisibility Cloak, his wand pointing, directly at the werewolf.

Hermione screamed. Sirius leapt to his feet. Harry felt as though he'd received a huge electric shock.

"I found this at the base of the Whomping Willow," said Snape, throwing the cloak aside, careful to keep this wand pointing directly at Remus's chest. "Very useful, Potter, thank you..." Snape's face was full of suppressed triumph. "You're wondering, perhaps, how I knew you were here?" he said, his eyes glittering. "I've just been to your office, Lupin. You forgot to take your potion tonight, so I took a gobletful along. And lying on your desk was a certain map. One glance at it told me all I needed to know. I saw you running along this passageway and out of sight."

"Severus -" Remus began, but Snape overrode him.

"I've told the headmaster again and again that you and your friends were helping your Black into the castle, Lupin, and here's the proof. Not even I dreamed you would have the nerve to use this old place as your hideout -"

"Severus, you're making a mistake," said Geoff urgently. "You haven't heard everything - I can explain - Sirius is not here to kill Harry -"

"Three more for Azkaban tonight," said Snape, his eyes now gleaming fanatically, looking from Remus to Geoff. "Four, once Ms. Jaeger's part in all of this is uncovered. I shall be interested to see how Dumbledore takes this... He was quite convinced you were harmless, you know, Lupin... a tame werewolf-"

"_STUPEFY_!" Geoff shouted, but he overshot his stunning spell, and it sailed several inches over Snape's head.

The potions master retaliated, sending a disarming spell back in Geoff's direction. As he was knocked backward by the force of the spell, his head collided with the wall, and Geoff's world went black.

Geoff awoke back on the grounds, sprawled out on the grass, out of reach of the Whomping Willow. Sirius was bent low over him, shaking him back into consciousness. Ron was chained to Peter, who was chained to Remus. An unconscious Snape was floating near Harry and Hermione.

Satisfied that Geoff was conscious, Sirius helped him to his feet. Silently they tramped through the grounds, the castle lights growing slowly larger. Snape was still drifting weirdly ahead of Black, his chin bumping on his chest.

And then a cloud shifted. There were suddenly dim shadows on the ground. Their party was bathed in moonlight.

Snape collided with Remus, Peter, and Ron, who had stopped abruptly. Sirius froze. He flung out one arm to make Harry and Hermione stop.

Remus had gone rigid. His limbs began to shake.

Hermione gasped. "He didn't take his potion tonight! He's not safe!"

"Run," Sirius whispered. "Run. Now. I'll take care of Ron," he said forcefully, throwing Harry back as he moved to help his friend. "Just RUN. Geoff - take them!"

There was a terrible snarling noise. Remus's head was lengthening. So was his body. His shoulders were hunching. Hair was sprouting visibly on his face and hands, which were curling into clawed paws.

As the werewolf reared, snapping its long jaws, Sirius disappeared from Harry's side. He had transformed. The enormous, bearlike dog bounded forward. As the werewolf wrenched itself free of the manacle binding it, the dog seized it about the neck and pulled it backward, away from Ron and Peter. They were locked, jaw to jaw, claws ripping at each other.

Harry stood, transfixed by the sight, too intent upon the battle to notice anything else. Hermione screamed and Geoff grabbed the both of them by their robes, trying to haul them away. Peter had dived for Remus's dropped wand-

"_Expelliarmus_!" Harry yelled as he and Hermione began to run. Remus's wand flew high into the air and out of sight, but it was too late - Peter had already transformed and was disappearing through the grass.

The werewolf disappeared into the forest, and Sirius went bounding through the grass after the rat.

The immediate threat gone for the moment, Harry, Hermione, and Geoff hurried to Ron's side. He was alive, but didn't seem to recognize them.

"We should get them to the castle," Geoff said, glancing up at Snape who was still hanging, unconscious, in midair. "Come on, we-"

He broke off. From beyond the range of their vision, the three of them heard a dog yelping in pain.

Harry hesitated for a fraction of a second, and then was on his feet, disappearing into the night, Hermione and Geoff right behind him. They pelted toward the lake, and the air temperature dropped lower and lower, their breath rising in vapors before their faces.

The yelping stopped abruptly, and as they reached the edge of the lake, they saw why. Sirius had turned back into a man, moaning, his hands over his head.

And then they saw them. Dementors, at least a hundred of them, gliding across the lake toward them.

"Hermione, think of something happy!" Harry yelled, raising his wand, trying to clear his vision and his thoughts, trying to get rid of the faint screaming that had begun inside his head. "_Expecto patronum_!" he shouted. "Hermione, help! _Expecto patronum_!"

Again and again, he and Geoff cast the charm, but the dementors were closing in, forming a solid wall, getting closer, closer, closer...

Hermione was the first to collapse, Geoff falling to his knees shortly afterward, making a few last attempts at casting a patronus. Harry's patronus was losing its form, becoming fainter as the dementors drew still closer.

Harry could feel them watching him, hear their rattling breath like an evil wind around him. The nearest dementor seemed to be considering him. Then it raised both its rotting hands - and lowered its hood.

Where there should have been eyes, there was only thin, gray scabbed skin, stretched blankly over empty sockets. But there was a mouth... a gaping, shapeless hole, sucking the air with the sound of a death rattle.

A paralyzing terror filled Harry so that he couldn't move or speak. His Patronus flickered and died.


	32. Potions Fuckfest, Part One

**Disclaimer: **There is no actual fucking in this chapter. Rather, the "fuckfest" is what ensues after a simple mistake, which leads to a clusterfuck of bullshit. "Potions Fuckfest" is what my coauthor and I called this portion of the story among ourselves while writing it, and the name stuck, so if you're looking for an actual fuckfest, I recommend looking elsewhere. - _Lafayette_

* * *

**Mid-November, 1977**

The rest of the week slowly became a constant strategy for Mariah in order to avoid a confrontation with Sirius. Once classes were over, Mariah would grab her bag and put as much distance between her and the classroom as possible. She'd expected Sirius to give her the cold shoulder after their fight, but that seemed to be the opposite of his plan. In fact, it required careful stealth and awareness to avoid him. He seemed to be everywhere she went, alone or with Kurt, and if he wasn't already there waiting for her when she arrived, he popped up not long after she got there.

"It's like he _always_ knows where I am!" she complained to Kurt as they made their way down a deserted corridor after yet another run-in. "He's following me everywhere!"

"It's because he knows you're with me," said Kurt. "You know, I think I've actually made the top of his Most-Hated list."

"If you've surpassed Snape, but that'd take a miracle," said Mariah, frowning.

They hadn't argued like they had in the common room, but Sirius had started joking with her, or rather _at_ her, and laughing sharply at her expense whenever he saw her. The way he spoke to her, or loudly to those surrounding, one might have thought she was a five-year-old with her first crush, and he the simpering parent. It was driving her mad.

Kurt often met her by way of another route before they met up, even if they had been in the same class. They hadn't left a class together since Monday when Sirius had followed them all the way down to Herbology, speaking loudly to James about how they were blocking the flow of traffic in the hall. Eventually Mariah had rounded on him and transfigured him into a rabbit, overdoing it a little so that his nose had been twitching uncontrollably for several days.

Now they were walking back from Potions in the dungeons, Kurt escorting Mariah up to Gryffindor Tower. They took secret passageways and side corridors that, though they lengthened the trip, were less-likely to be monitored by Sirius. It was there that they often stopped for a few moments alone.

"Kurt..." said Mariah softly, her eyes closed as she felt his hands move up under her skirt along her legs. "Don't ruin it..."

"It's not ruining," said Kurt, relinquishing his hands to continue their quest above the skirt. "Consider it improving..."

"Kurt..." Mariah said his name again, looking at him imploringly.

"Why not?" Kurt's lips moved from her neck and returned to her face. Mariah sighed, relinquishing her arms from around his neck and cradling them around his middle.

"Not _here_," she emphasized. Kurt held her gaze for a moment, and then a smile broke his face and his lips met hers more forcefully than before as he pressed her against the wall. One of his hands held her arm up straight against the wall while the other traced her curves, wrapping around her waist and holding it tightly as he felt one of her legs wrap around him.

"Ooooo, look, ickle Lovelly's got a shnookums!" They broke apart with identical groans as their faces turned upwards. Peeves, the poltergeist, was floating there, with a sickly sugared look on his face as he cackled down at them. He flipped upside down, making hideous smooching noises, and looked at Mariah. "Ooooooo, AND it's Jiggery Jaeger! Are the gargoyles riverdancing yet, Jiggery Jaeger!?" He broke out into a Scottish dance, wailing at the top of his lungs.

"Let's get out of here," Kurt shouted over the noise, taking Mariah's hand and leading her down the passageway, Peeves dancing after them, now swearing loudly in a Scottish accent.

They managed to escape Peeves around the corner and reached the Gryffindor common room soon enough, Kurt giving Mariah a quick goodbye kiss before setting back off for the dungeons. Mariah had stepped through the portrait hole to find Sirius and the other Marauders sitting on the couch near the dormitories, doing homework. She felt his eyes on her watchfully as she crossed the room and passed them, heading up the stairs.

"Missed a few buttons there!" he called after her as she started up for her room.

Mariah had tried to ask Remus to intercede, but the prefect had outright denied her.

"Come on, you're his friend... maybe you could, you know, talk some sense into him," she pleaded.

"Mariah, it's not that simple. You've seen James try to talk him down. He's unreachable," said Remus. "Besides, he's never going to back down now that Kurt tried to melt his face off." Mariah nearly dropped the entire container of doxy eggs into the cauldron.

"He _what_?" Remus looked surprised.

"Oh... didn't he tell you? Apparently when Sirius and James were having a discussion about you, Kurt snuck up and held Sirius at wandpoint, threatening him. He backed down and Sirius tried to attack him, but he dodged and caught Sirius with a face-melting hex. He's still having trouble getting his eye to stick..."

"Kurt... attacked them?" Mariah frowned. "What were they saying?" Remus rolled his eyes.

"Well, the way Sirius tells it, they were insulting the Slytherins, but James said that they were talking about what happened the other night. I assume that was the first Kurt heard about it, or else he wouldn't have acted that way. He doesn't seem the type to attack for no reason." Remus eyed Mariah, who was stirring the potion silently. "You hadn't told him, had you?"

"No," she said. "I didn't want... well, _this_ to happen."

"He hasn't brought it up with you at all?" asked Remus. Mariah shook her head. Remus raised his eyebrows. "Huh... doesn't want to worry you, I suppose."

"Guess not..." Mariah leaned close to the textbook, moving her lips along with the lines of the recipe. She looked from the description to the cauldron and back, picking up her wand and muttering a few words as she tapped the rim. The potion began to emit a pale blue smoke, and Mariah picked up the goblet sitting to the side, spooning a bit of the potion into it. "Alright, Remus, it says you have to take it once every day for a week before the transformation."

Remus took the goblet hesitantly, eyeing the smoke. He looked sharply at Mariah. "You're sure you followed everything exactly?"

"Positive," said Mariah, getting to her feet and brushing herself off. "And I even charmed the cauldron so Myrtle couldn't mess with it. It's foolproof." Remus looked back at the goblet, sighing deeply.

"Alright... here goes..." He put his lips to the rim of the cup and tipped it back. He brought it away immediately, pulling a face. "Oh, that's _nasty_..."

"Can't use sugar; says it negates the effect," said Mariah, shrugging. "Go on, drink the rest."

"This had better work," said Remus, grimacing as he tipped the goblet even more, trying to down the concoction in one go. He swallowed and stuck out his tongue, pushing the empty cup as far away as he could. Mariah took it, smiling.

"One down, six to go." She headed to the sink to refill it, leaving Remus to tend to his offended tongue. The prefect looked around, eyeing the stall where Myrtle's quiet mutterings were clearly audible. His gaze settled on Geoff's cauldron over in the corner.

"You making two batches?" he asked, nodding in the direction of the other. Mariah looked around.

"No, that's not mine," she said, walking back with a goblet of water and handing it to Remus, who quickly drained it.

"Any idea what it is?" he asked, setting the goblet back by the cauldron and frowning at the boiling mixture bubbling away in the corner. Mariah shook her head.

"None. Come on, the game's in half an hour."

Slytherin had not versed Gryffindor since the beginning of the year, but in a short amount of time the score was settled, with Slytherin winning 350 to 200, and leaving the loser devastated. If the inter-house tension had been high between Gryffindor and Slytherin before, it was nothing compared to the days after the match. Older students avoided the traffic of the main hallways, for fear of being caught by a stray spell. Duels broke out everywhere, and soon the Hospital Wing had so many patients that Madame Pomfrey had to weed out the occupants to only serious cases. There was more than one student who had to attend classes with tentacles instead of arms until her schedule had cleared out.

Regulus Black, the Slytherin seeker, had been the central target of much of the Gryffindor hexing, but had escaped the brunt of the attacks and eventually was escorted by a Slytherin force of five extra students wherever he went. Sirius had spent much of his time trying to get at him, and he had a few times, but the guard eventually got the best of him and he withdrew.

Unfortunately for Mariah, it meant that he had returned his attentions to bullying her again. She'd managed to escape to the grounds with Kurt most of the time, and soon she was doing her homework down by the lake every day, despite the colder and somewhat stormier November weather.

"You know, I don't think Professor Slughorn is going to be able to read that essay if the words look more like small puddles," he observed one rainy day as they sat under a large black umbrella at a safe distance from the bank, which was slowly going underwater. Mariah pointed her wand at the paper and began drying the words into place as the wind blew the raindrops in sideways.

"It's legible enough..." she muttered. Kurt sighed.

"Sooner or later you're going to get pneumonia," he said, peeking out from under the umbrella to look at the sky.

"Oh yeah? And what about you? _You_ spend as much time out here as I do," said Mariah.

"Yes, but _I_ am immune to sickness," replied Kurt. "Come on, we're going back up to the castle." He stood, but Mariah tugged at his robes.

"No, sit back down, I don't want him dogging our steps again," she groaned. Kurt reached down and pulled her up by one arm, dragging her along after him under the large umbrella.

"I've told you before, if it bothers you that much..." he said.

"No, it's his problem," grumbled Mariah. "But what if Peeves finds us again?" Peeves, like Sirius, had taken to mocking them wherever they went, only his jokes were less spiteful and more... poetic.

"We'll walk faster, then, like we always do," said Kurt, smirking and running ahead so that she was sopping by the time they got up to the castle. Peeves was pleased; Filch was not.

They separated by the Great Hall and walked in to dinner, separating to take their seats at their respective tables. Mariah sat by Lily, looking around to quickly locate which seat she would avoid looking at. But Sirius wasn't there yet. Slightly suspicious, she started her meal along with the rest of them, looking up only when the missing person turned up halfway through desert with a swaggering walk that made him look like a medieval hero who had just slain a dragon with pure intimidation. He stopped by the empty seat and stood looking smugly at them all, arms crossed proudly. They all looked at him expectantly until James finally opened his mouth.

"Alright, what are you so smug about?" Sirius grinned.

"I... have got a _girlfriend_," he said slowly, annunciating each word with sumptuous emphasis. Peter looked up, curious.

"Really? Who?" he asked. Sirius took his seat slowly, taking his fork and leaning in close.

"Gwenog... Jones," he said, smirking widely and setting to work on the pie that had appeared on his plate. The boys exchanged looks and Lily snorted.

"Gwenog... you serious, Sirius?" the redhead asked, her mouth twitching. The boy assumed a disapproving air.

"Yes... and what is wrong with that?" he asked. Lily glanced at James, who cleared his throat.

"Well uh... we just never knew you felt about her that way, is all," he said. Sirius leaned on one elbow, eyeing the forkful of pie with a careless glance.

"Yeah, well, what Gwenog and I have is something you two would never understand," he said. Mariah felt her mouth split in a sneer.

"Thats because it doesn't traditionally learn to talk until about age two," she said. Everyone but Sirius snorted loudly, and, in the case of Peter, spat out whatever they were eating entirely. Sirius was not amused, and he stabbed at his pie as if it were the body of an enemy.

"You're one to talk. I heard Peeves singing about you today. You wanna know what he said?" Mariah felt the smirk leave her face at the malicious grin Sirius was giving her now. He straightened, imitating Peeves's high obnoxious voice. "_There once was a girl named Mariah, who succumbed to her Lovell's desire. She said, 'It's a sin, but now that it's in, could you push it a few inches higher?_'"

"Fuck you, Sirius, you-" Mariah was interrupted by the pompous owl landing between them, presenting a folded letter attached to one leg. Mariah grabbed at it, but Sirius yanked it out of reach, sending the owl flying back with wild screeches of indignation. He ripped the letter open and stared at it, a look of disgust crossing his face.

"And you call _me_ a prick! That's fucking _revolting_! Forget dinner, I've lost my appetite..." He left his seat and marched out of the Great Hall, still with the same look on his face. Mariah slowly took the letter from the center of the table and looked down at it to read.

_Dear Mariah,_

_Meet me down at the Quidditch pitch after this._

_Love, Kurt_

There was no embellishment this time. Mariah quickly folded the letter up and put it into an inner pocket of her robes, excusing herself from the table and making her way back up to the common room. She started to walk straight for her dormitory, but Sirius was waiting for her.

"The Quidditch pitch? Really?"

Mariah tried to move past him, but he blocked her.

"Classy place, don't you think? Lightyears beyond a lavatory or a corridor. Seems like you've upgraded."

Mariah looked up at Sirius, pointing at his face.

"Is your eye a little off?" she asked innocently. Sirius's hand flew to his face, and Mariah quickly ducked around him, running up the staircase.

Mariah stared at her reflection in the mirror, watching her own wide hazel eyes look back at her, scared as she felt, yet exhilarated all the same. She checked her appearance and gave herself a last once-over before leaving her dorm and starting back down. Sirius was on the couch with James and Peter, shaking his head about something.

"She's been in that abandoned lavatory on the second floor almost every day with Mansfield, too. And the rest of the time she's with Remus. You don't think-"

"Absolutely not," replied James immediately.

"But Mansfield..."

Mariah walked past them and they looked up, Sirius turning to watch her over the back of the couch.

"Oy! Won't Mansfield be disappointed to see that he's not the only one you're hitting up?"

"I'm not hitting up Mansfield!" Mariah replied automatically, hurrying through the portrait hole before he could get another word in.

She met Remus leaving the Great Hall. He stopped her on her way out.

"Listen, Mariah, tonight's the night," he said. "I'm going to go take the potion, but I won't see you again probably until tomorrow later on. I just...well, I wanted to thank you..." A smile broke his tired face, and he held out a hand. "Not many people would have done what you've done for me right after an encounter like the one you had."

Mariah looked at Remus's hand, but instead flung her arms around his neck, hugging him close.

"Good luck, Remus," she said, pushing her still-stinging wounds further down and feeling her excitement course through her. "I hope it works."

"Let's pray it does," replied Remus, smiling at her and turning to walk off towards Moaning Myrtle's lavatory. Mariah watched him go for a moment, and then turned back to the great oak doors, and pushed her way out onto the grounds.

The Quidditch pitch loomed up at the edge of the Forest by the Lake like a huge colosseum, a gigantic black silhouette against the pale light that fell across the grounds from the full moon like a beacon. Mariah clung to what shadows there were, making her way across as quickly as possible. Filch started his rounds as early as 9, but because of the students who lingered in the rest of the castle, he often didn't make it out onto the grounds before midnight, and often when he did, he never checked the Quidditch pitch, as late-night practices were sometimes granted to certain team members.

The cold November chill laced the wind like a razor's edge, cutting Mariah to the bone as she climbed the stairs into the drafty stands, making her way up one of the towers, where she was less likely to be seen. From up there, the castle looked fiery and inviting, every single one of its windows ablaze with cheery life. The lights were a contrast to the silver-bathed lawns and the reflective pool of the Lake, where it looked as though a piece of the black satin sky had fallen to settle at the edge of the trees.

Footsteps reached her ears suddenly, and she looked around in time to see Kurt reach the landing, smiling at her. He walked around and took the seat next to her, sighing as he surveyed the quiet evening scene.

"Beautiful night," he said. "Full moon."

"Yes, it is," said Mariah, feeling content. Kurt looked around at her, his tawny eyes strange in the silver light. He reached up a hand and tucked a strand of Mariah's long brown hair behind her ear, tracing her jawline.

"Do you have any idea how lovely you are?" he asked after a moment, his hand still at her face. He looked entranced, his eyes moving focus from her eyes, to her ear, to her nose, to her mouth, and further down. Mariah felt herself smile and looked away across the grounds again.

"...Not that lovely..." she said softly. Kurt moved in closer, his lips capturing hers for a second.

"False," he said, kissing at the corners of her mouth. "I can't think of one more." He kissed her along the cheek towards her ear.

"Do you have any idea how much of a charmer you are?" asked Mariah, smiling at him. She giggled and leaning her neck as Kurt's train of kisses traced along her shoulder, tickling her. Kurt grinned at her.

"I do," he said surely, pressing his lips to hers once more and moving them softly in rhythm. His eyebrows furrowed as the kiss became more passionate, one hand still cupped around the base of Mariah's head, his thumb at her ear, tracing its curve softly. His other hand wormed its way under her robe, caressing her shoulder and down her arm.

Moaning Myrtle had flooded the lavatory when Remus reached it, but the potion stood in the center of a small ring of dry on the stone tile floor. In fact, both potions were safe from the flood... that is, because both were in the small impervious zone.

Remus stared.

"You have got to be kidding me..."

Two smoking potions sat in the cauldrons, each with a goblet set out to the side. The volume level looked about the same, and neither of the goblets looked used. Remus looked from one to the other, debating with himself until a wave of nausea forced him to choose. He filled a goblet and quickly drained it down, recoiling at the taste as it slid down his throat. He stood for a moment, waiting for the taste to subside, but instead it intensified. The pain from his throat spread all over, and he felt himself begin to change.

At first he thought he'd begun to transform, but after a moment he realized that instead of fur appearing, his skin was merely stretching, morphing to encompass a larger form that he had previously possessed. He grew slightly shorter, felt his face rearranging. All at once it stopped, and he took the hand away from his face which had been clutching at the bridge of his nose. He looked in the mirror.

Edwin Mulciber stared back at him, looking shocked and confused. Remus whirled around, staring at the potion. _Polyjuice Potion_. For a moment he wondered who had been brewing it here, but a bigger concern made itself known to him as he felt another wave of nausea pass over.

Remus bolted for the door, sprinting for the Spiral Staircase and flying down it. He crossed the entrance hall at a quick pace, making for the grounds, but then-

"Oy! Mulciber! Where you off to!"

Remus whirled around. There was Rosier, with Avery, standing by the dungeons. Rosier beckoned to him once more, and, with a sense of intense dread, Remus walked over and followed them down to the dungeons.

Gwenog Jones tasted like cardboard, Sirius mused as his tongue explored her mouth. He wondered if she snuck up to the owlery and ate the packaging in her spare time. He had to catch himself in time not to sigh in relief when she pulled back and smiled at him.

"Oh, Sirius, you really do love me, don't you."

"Shut up and kiss me," growled Sirius with a smirk, mentally praying that she would play coy. However, coy was never one of Gwenog's strong traits. She pressed her lips back to his, and he bit at them playfully, making her laugh and pull back again.

"Oh, you dog..."

Sirius laughed at her, but looked up as James appeared by the end of the couch, looking worried.

"What is it, Prongs?"

"Moony," said James, raising his eyebrows. "He told me earlier he'd need help with his _furry little problem_ tonight..." Sirius sat up, waving Gwenog off of him.

"Oh... right... where is he?"

"That's my problem, I can't find him," said James.

"Can't find him?" repeated Sirius, standing and walking off with his friend without another word to Gwenog, who sat on the couch watching them sulkily. "Have you checked the map?" he added in an undertone.

"Well, see, _you_ have it," said James.

"Oh yeah." Sirius pulled the map out of his pocket, unfolding it, and they both began to comb the names for one Remus Lupin. "Where did you see him last?"

"Dinner. He left a bit after Mariah, though..."

"Don't say that name. Did you see him come up here?"

"No, you were up before me, you would have seen him..."

"There he is!" Sirius pointed at the map triumphantly where the name Remus Lupin shone in faded ink. The boys stared a moment. "What the hell is he doing in the Slytherin common room?"

"I dunno... maybe he's doing prefect duties," said James, shrugging. "In any case, we should head out for the grounds. Come on, Peter."

The three of them swept out of the common room, leaving Gwenog sitting huffily on the couch watching them, her arms crossed.

Severus Snape had been watching Emilie Delacroix sulk for the past twenty minutes. She was glaring hatefully at Rosier and his raucous friends as they cackled and guffawed amongst themselves, occasionally shooting her a sneer over their shoulders.

"You might as well get it over with," he said absently.

She looked at him sharply, startled by the sudden sound of his voice. "Get what over with?"

"I know you're going to be incensed by this later, and Kurt and I will have to listen to it for the next twenty-four hours, so you may as well get started now."

She gave him an incredulous look. "Really, Sev? I'm not like that."

He gave her a look as though to say _yes, you are_, but let it drop.

She went back to sulking, and after another five minutes, Severus stood, unable to take her brooding silence any longer without Kurt for a decent conversation, and disappeared into the boys' dormitory.

As he began to disrobe, he saw a form lying in the bed next to his, and paused. He mentally counted in his head - himself, Rosier, Avery, and Mulciber had been in the common room, Bagman was in detention, Kurt was with Mariah... So who was this? Cautiously, he took a step forward and peered at the sleeping boy.

Edwin Mulciber gave a loud snore.

Mulciber was asleep? But then who was-?

"_Fuck_." He turned and hurried out of the dormitory, but once he reached the common room, he found it deserted.

As soon as the hem of Severus's robes had disappeared around the corner on his way up to the boys' dormitory, Rosier and his goons had come over and started pestering Emilie, pulling back their sleeves and waving their tattooed forearms in their face. Mulciber had seemed mildly surprised to see a Dark Mark on his arm, but it wouldn't have been the first time he had forgotten. Before even a full minute of this had elapsed, she had stood and pushed her way past them, stalking out of the common room.

She was now making her way down the front steps of the castle, hands clenched into fists at her sides. As she began making her way across the grass, she heard the castle door open behind her again, and a sudden wave of panic washed over her. Filch? She glanced back and saw that it was Rosier and his gang. She cursed under her breath and quickened her pace.

The door opened a third time, and she glanced back again to see a solitary figure hurrying down the steps toward Rosier's group. The figure was too spry to possibly be Filch. As he turned to one side, the moonlight caught his profile. She'd recognize that hooked nose anywhere, even at a distance - Severus. Well, at least she wasn't alone now.

She waited for a moment, but Severus didn't join her. He stopped at Rosier's group and pulled Mulciber to one side. The two boys walked away, leaving the other three looking at each other and shrugging for a moment before resuming their pursuit.

She turned and continued her trek across the grounds, debating for a moment heading back to the castle. Even if it meant getting caught by Filch in the corridors, it may still have been preferable to Rosier, Avery, and Regulus catching up with her. She shook the thought from her head; she was not sitting through another detention with Filch.

She heard hurried footsteps pounding across the grass behind her and turned to see Rosier, Avery, and Regulus rushing at her, wands raised.

Geoff had done everything right. _Everything_. He had brewed the lacewing flies for twenty-one days. The leeches had been unsucculated. The fluxweed had been collected at the full moon, as had the bicorn horn. He had managed to snag a few of Mulciber's hairs when they had been partnered up in Transfiguration the week before. Other than the hiccough of Myrtle flushing his ingredients, everything had gone off without a hitch.

And yet when Geoffrey Mansfield had looked in the mirror, he had seen Geoffrey Mansfield staring right back at him. He had kicked over both of the now-empty cauldrons, and one of the goblets was now dented rather badly on one side, before making his way back up to Gryffindor Tower, collected his bat, and making his way down onto the grounds, taking swings at several suits of armor and statues on his way, most of which leapt to one side just in time to avoid the blow.

The thought never crossed his mind that he may have taken the wrong potion. The amount in Mariah's cauldron had been diminishing over the past week, and it made sense that her cauldron would have been the empty one - not his. He had taken what potion was there - he had taken his Polyjuice Potion, not whatever it was she had been feverishly brewing for the past month. So why hadn't it _worked_?

Gnashing his teeth, he turned to make his way toward the Quidditch pitch, and froze.

There, silhouetted in the semidarkness, were three robed figures tormenting a fourth. The figure on the ground moved to scramble away across the ground but was pulled back into the middle of the group by an ankle.

Geoff took a few halting steps toward the group, but the attackers were too preoccupied with their victim - whom he now recognized as Emilie - to notice him approaching. He stood for a moment, watching, and felt a sudden rage begin to build inside of him, the hairs on the back of his neck raising. He adjusted his grip on the bat and strode over to the group, pulling the bat back and taking a powerful swing at one of the attackers' backs. Avery went down with a strangled sort of noise, the wind knocked out of him. Another swing of the bat, and Regulus was on the ground beside Avery, one hand groping at his now-broken collar bone. Rosier raised his wand to defend himself, but Geoff was faster, the bat connecting with the side of the Slytherin's face with a sickening crack.

Rosier held out his hand and spat out several teeth and plenty of blood. He gave Geoffrey a venomous look before taking off back up toward the castle, clearly not keen on attacking the Gryffindor with the bat. Geoffrey waited until he saw Avery and Regulus gingerly pick themselves up off the ground and turn to follow their fearless leader back to the castle. There would be hell to pay for that later, but that wasn't important.

He dropped to the ground beside Emilie and reached out to touch her shoulder. She lowered her arms from where she had raised them in an effort to shield herself and sat up, looking at him for a moment before throwing her arms around him, burying her face into his neck and beginning to sob. He put his arms around her and shushed her, stroking her dark hair with one hand until she finally calmed down.

Once her sobbing had all but stopped, she pulled back from him and wiped at her eyes. "Geoff - thank you - God - I don't-"

"It's okay, Emilie," he said, interrupting her. He put a hand on her cheek and brushed away a tear with his thumb. "You're safe now." He furrowed his brow and moved his hand from her cheek to wipe away a trickle of blood from a small cut on her forehead. For the first time since the Slytherins had fled, he gave her an appraising look. One of her sleeves was torn and a cut on her arm was bleeding; there was a scrape on one side of her jaw; there was a bruise already forming on one cheekbone; her lower lip was busted.

He tucked some of her hair behind and ear, leaned forward, and kissed her lightly on the forehead. He drew back and opened his mouth to speak, but his attention was caught by a howl from the forest. He climbed to his feet, pulling her along with him. "We should get back inside," he said. "Can you walk? Is anything broken?"

She hesitated. "I think I can walk, but - but I can't go back - not after that."

Geoff considered for a moment, and then took her by the hand, pulling her to her feet. She winced and immediately took her weight off her left foot. He put one of her arms around him and helped her toward the castle. "Come on," he said.

She allowed him to help her up several flights of stairs, darting into hidden passageways whenever they heard Filch's incessant muttering coming from the corridor ahead. Finally, they emerged in front of the Fat Lady's portrait.

"_Humbumble_," Geoff said, ignoring the Fat Lady's look of annoyance at being woken up in the middle of the night. The portrait swung open, and Geoff began to climb into the portrait hole, but Emilie held him back, looking uncomfortable. "It's fine, I promise," he said.

She hesitated another moment, then allowed him to lead her through the empty common room and up the stairs to the door marked "Seventh Years."

"Geoff, wait," she said as he reached for the handle. "Wait. What about Potter and Black?"

"They can get over it," he said, dropping his hand from the door handle and turning to her. "But if you'd rather, I'm sure Lily and Mariah wouldn't mind-"

"No," she interrupted. "I'd rather stay with you."

He smiled at her and turned back to the door, pushing it open and leading her inside into the darkness. As Geoff opened his trunk and began rummaging around in it, he noticed that the Marauders' beds were, thankfully, empty. Good; they wouldn't have to put up with Sirius's nonsense - at least, not until his inevitable return in the wee hours of the morning. He turned to see Emilie sitting on the edge of his bed, untying her tie, her robes and sweater already folded on the bed beside her.

He walked over to her as she began to unbutton her blouse, catching her chin with one hand and tilting her face up to look at him. Her hands fell away from her blouse and reached out for his tie, catching it and pulling him into her, kissing him.

When he drew away a moment later, he released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "How long have you wanted to do that?" he asked.

"Long enough," she answered.

He leaned forward and gave her another quick peck, then returned to his trunk, digging in it in search of something to bandage Emilie's arm. Suddenly, he froze.

"Geoff, what-?"

He shushed her, peering around in the darkness of the dormitory. He had heard a rustling of sheets; they weren't alone. For a moment, there was silence, then another brief rustling and the sound of two feet hitting the floor. He squinted into the darkness and saw the outline of another boy pulling a dressing robe on and heading for the door.

"I'll just - I'll just leave you two alone, then, shall I?" he asked, hurrying to the door.

Geoff sighed irritably and straightened. "I'd better go explain things to Frank," he said.

"Just leave it," Emilie said. "He'll be fine. He's not the one you have to worry about explaining things to."

Geoff's ginger head disappeared into his trunk again, and he emerged several seconds later with a roll of bandages. He sat down beside Emilie and helped her ease her blouse off over her injured arm, wrapping it tightly before standing back up.

"I'm going to go wait in the common room for the others to get back. Things might go a little smoother if I give them a warning you're here. You get some sleep." He kissed her forehead a final time before readjusting his tie and exiting the dormitory, making his way down to the common room.


	33. Potions Fuckfest, Part Two

**Disclaimer:** There is no actual fucking in this chapter. Rather, the "fuckfest" is what ensues after a simple mistake, which leads to a clusterfuck of bullshit. "Potions Fuckfest" is what my coauthor and I called this portion of the story among ourselves while writing it, and the name stuck, so if you're looking for an actual fuckfest, I recommend looking elsewhere. - _Lafayette_

* * *

Remus was feeling worse by the minute, following Severus across the grounds towards the Forest. He could feel his stomach contracting, his heartbeat increasing. He asked Severus once where they were going, but Severus merely glanced back without an answer. He didn't speak at all until they came to a stop near the edge of the Lake, where he turned to face Remus, reaching into his robes and drawing his wand.

"Now... let's see who you are really, impostor..."

"Lupin!" gasped Remus, feeling his blood beginning to rush. "Remus Lupin! Severus, please, I-"

"Lupin..." Severus's eyes danced with a cold light as he looked Remus once up and down. "What is this, Polyjuice Potion? When the Headmaster finds out that you've been making-"

"_Please_! Not mine! It was..." Remus fell silent, doubling over and vomiting his dinner onto the grass. Severus looked at him in disgust, and then his eyes widened and he looked into the sky.

"Well, well, well, what have we here? Looks like Snivellus thought he could in get a cheap shot tonight!" Severus whirled around in time to see James, Sirius, and Peter walking towards him before his world was turned upside down as he was hoisted into the air by the ankle.

"Come on, Sirius," said James, waving his wand, and Severus felt the air release him in time to brace himself before he fell to the ground. "Remus, what are you doing... what the-"

"Mulciber!?" Sirius looked scathingly at the figure. He started to raise his wand, but Peter squealed behind him.

"No, Sirius, that's Remus!" he said quickly. Sirius looked around.

"Are you sure?"

"Says so."

Sirius lowered his wand and sighed, looking at the form of Mulciber, which was doubled over, holding his stomach. "Remus, why are you Mulciber?" he asked.

"Snape, you need to get out of here," said James warningly. "It's the full moon."

"I don't need _you_ to tell me what to do, _Potter_," spat Severus, picking himself up off the ground and turning back towards the castle. "You should keep a tighter leash on him. A dangerous thing like _that_ needs to be monitored closely."

Sirius started to retort, but at that moment, Remus let out a snarl, and a shudder ran the length of his spine as he arced his back. Immediately, Sirius and James grabbed Remus and started dragging him towards the forest as he tore at his skin, revealing new skin underneath, covered in fur. Peter Pettigrew started to follow them, but Snape caught his arm. Peter struggled for his wand, but Snape had his out and at Peter's throat in an instant.

"I would reconsider my options, if I were you," said Snape, rolling his wand between his fingers idly. He pulled hard and Peter followed him. Across the grounds, Remus tore himself free of his friends, but Severus was already halfway up to the castle, walking quickly. Behind him, he heard the werewolf emit a chilling howl, and looked over his shoulder in time to see it disappear into the Forest. The other boys were nowhere to be seen. Severus kept walking, his robes billowing out behind him in the cold night air as he tugged Peter back into the entrance hall.

A laugh reached his ears, and he stopped by the doors, melting into the shadows of a pillar with his wand pressed tight to Peter's throat, looking back towards the Quidditch pitch. There, in the shadows, he could barely see two figures making their way back up to the castle. He heard another laugh, and then a voice he recognized as Kurt's. Sinking into the shadows, he watched them approach.

"Oh 'scuse me, Miss Jaeger, your tie looks a little askew there..." snickered Kurt mockingly, his arm around Mariah.

"Oh Mr. Lovell, didn't you have a belt before?"

"Your vest appears to be on backwards, have you just taken a bath?"

"Did you fall on the grounds? Your hair's all full of grass there."

"Miss Jaeger, did you fall in the Lake? You look wetter than usual."

Mariah smacked Kurt across the chest, scoffing indignantly. He grinned devilishly and walked with her through the front doors, passing Severus without seeing him. The light from the door thinned back into darkness as the door closed slowly. Severus watched the Forest again for a moment before rounding the pillar and pushing Peter through the doors.

They walked through the dark hall down to the staircases that lead to the dungeons. There was no sign of Kurt and Mariah, as he was probably escorting her back up to Gryffindor Tower. Snape held Peter against a wall and firmly said, "Serpent," to which the wall opened and they entered. The Slytherin common room was unusually empty, however, Severus didn't waste time wondering where Rosier and his gang had got to. Instead, he quickly paralyzed Peter sat down on a chair to wait.

The minutes passed slowly, but as the hand struck the hour, Kurt entered the common room, a wide smirk plastered across his face. He walked to the fireplace where Severus sat and sank into an armchair with a contented sigh, seeming to deflate.

"You had a good evening, I assume," said Severus without real interest.

"Took Mariah up to the Quidditch pitch," said Kurt, grinning at the ceiling.

"So... how was she?"

"A little slow at first, but she picked it up fast. She's actually quite good."

"Well that's..." Severus rolled his eyes. "Listen, I've got something more serious to discuss with you."

"What is it, Sev?" asked Kurt, rubbing at his eye sleepily. "I got to go to bed. It's been a workout..." He suddenly noticed the body on the floor. "Why've you got Pettigrew here?"

"Because this rat is going to get us Avery's book back," said Severus slowly.

Mariah bid goodnight to Kurt outside of the portrait hole for a long time before entering, feeling herself smiling as though she'd just been hit with a Cheering Charm. After he left, she remained in the hall, leaning against the wall and letting her blissful stage continue. She knew that when she entered the common room, Sirius was bound to leap all over her - or Gwenog depending on his approach - and she felt inclined to enjoy her good mood all she could before it came to an end.

Finally, with a sigh and a sinking feeling of resignation, Mariah issued the password and climbed through the portrait hole into the common room. But it wasn't Sirius waiting for her. Instead it was Geoff.

"_You_," he said scathingly as she entered. "Would you care to explain what the hell happened tonight?"

"What?"

"You ruined everything! Did you not even notice that you took mine by mistake!?" Geoff was livid. Mariah felt what remained of her happiness leave her in a rush of dread.

"Oh no..." she said, feeling numb.

"Oh no!? You got that right, 'oh no'! That potion took me _weeks_!" He slammed his fist against the wall in futile anger while Mariah slowly walked to an armchair and sank into it, eyes wide. She looked slowly around at Geoff.

"Geoff... what was your potion?" she asked, feeling sickeningly hollow.

"A Polyjuice Potion I've been brewing since Halloween! And you went and drank it all! You've been siphoning off your potion all week, how come you suddenly got confused and went and used mine?" Geoff seized a chair and flung it aside, causing it to break a leg. Mariah watched him warily.

"A Polyjuice Potion... for... for who?"

"_Mulciber_!" retorted Geoff. "What, did it not even work when you drank it?"

"My potion wasn't for me..." said Mariah, running a hand through her hair. "He must have gone up and drunk the wrong one..."

"What do you mean it wasn't for you? Who was it for?" asked Geoff. An incensed look seized him. "And what did _I_ drink?" Mariah rose from her seat after a second's deliberation, walking to Geoff and putting her hands on his shoulders.

"Geoff, I need you to bear with me, and listen to what I'm saying... but I need you to calm down first."

"I'm calm, Mariah, now what the _fuck_ did I drink?"

"It's a Wolfsbane Potion, Geoff. It's a sort of... depressant for the symptoms of lycanthropy," said Mariah quickly. "But for the full effect it has to be taken for a week, so I don't think you could have been affected strongly, and-"

"And it was for someone else?" Geoff looked alarmed. "Are you saying that there's a _werewolf_-"

"Ssshhhh, Geoff, keep your voice-"

"Get your hands off of me!"

"Okay, okay, but Geoff, please don't-"

"_Mariah_! What the _hell_ did you do to Remus!?"

Sirius and James were back, marching towards her. Mariah backed up and found herself against a wall. Geoff still looked shocked and angry, but Sirius and James were pure anger.

"Why was he looking like Mulciber?" asked James.

"Because he drank _my_ Polyjuice Potion!" interjected Geoff before Mariah could answer. "Leaving _me_ with _her_ rubbish."

"Well, what were you feeding him before?" demanded Sirius.

"Look, it's none of your business what I was doing!" replied Mariah hotly, glaring at Sirius. To her surprise, James, not Sirius, blew up at that.

"Yes it _is_, Mariah, this is _not_ about _you_!" he snapped. "Now I want to know why my friend was out there where he could have hurt someone, and we weren't with him!"

Mariah fell silent, ears ringing from the shouting. She stared at the boys' chests, unable to look them in the eye. Taking a shuddering breath, she started to speak.

"I thought... I said I could make him the Wolfsbane Potion... to help, and... I've been giving it to him all week, but today I guess...I guess he..." She felt her eyes tearing up uncontrollably, and she struggled to hold them back, taking a deep breath. "I guess he took Geoff's on accident and...I honestly don't know what happened." She sniffed, a few tears tracing down her face as she looked up at them. "Is he alright?"

James and Sirius glanced at each other, then looked warily at Geoff, who was still standing beside them. Mariah tried to wipe the tears from her eyes in annoyance.

"Geoff knows! I'm sorry! Is Remus _alright_?"

"He's alright," said Sirius gruffly. "Actually, he was less violent than usual. Maybe your potion had something to do with that, but he was still pretty dangerous."

"The Slytherins were hanging around him, thinking he was Mulciber," said James, calming down and looking at Geoff. "Mansfield, we're going to have to explain this to you once Remus gets back. Until then, please keep this quiet."

Mariah took Sirius and James's attention shifting to Geoff as her cue to exit, slinking off toward the girls' dormitories. "Yeah, I'm going to tell everyone that there's a _werewolf_ running around and send the school into a panic," Geoff said, rolling his eyes. "Come on, who would I tell?"

"That Slytherin bitch, Delacroix," Sirius said.

"I wouldn't tell her. But that is an excellent segue," Geoff said, clapping his hands together. "Because I wanted to tell you guys that-"

"Geoff? What's all the yelling about?"

As one, the three boys turned to see Emilie standing on the boys' dormitory stairs, a set of Geoff's robes draped around her shoulders.

Sirius forced a smile, threw an arm around Geoff's shoulders, and led the redheaded boy off to one side. "What the _fuck_ is _that_ doing here?" he hissed. He glanced back at her over his shoulder. "And why the hell is it wearing _your_ robes?"

"Because-"

There was a sudden crash and they turned to see that Mariah had returned to the common room looking more frazzled than ever, and had managed to knock over a lamp at her reentry. "Someone's been into my room," she said. "Everything's a mess - everything's been opened and looked through and-"

"Is anything _missing_?" James asked.

"I don't know!" Mariah wailed. "I just walked in and everything had been rummaged through and all mine and Lily's clothes were spread out all over the floor and our trunks had been opened! I wasn't looking to see if anything was _missing_!"

"Well it's obvious who did it," Sirius said. "Who's the one person in here who'd want to get into Gryffindor Tower and steal something? Who's the one person in here other than the traitor over there that could actually get into the dorm?" He gave Geoff an angry look. "If you hadn't let that _thing_ in here-"

"Emilie didn't do it, Sirius."

"Oh, of course it didn't. It just let its friends in through the window. It's like I told you, Geoff, they're_ up to something_, all of them. How'd it get you to let her in here?" he asked. "Flash you its tits? Blow you in the corridor? They'll do anything to get you to trust them, but you can't let them get to you. _Safety in numbers_, Geoff. You can't ever trust a Slytherin-"

Emilie gave a derisive snort from her place the stairs. "Is that what this is to you, Black? Some school rivalry?"

"Of course not. I just know how your lot is, and I just want to make sure Geoff doesn't get in over his head."

Geoff started to say something to the effect of "I can take care of myself, thanks," but his words were drowned out by an outburst from Emilie.

"You just think you know _everything_, don't you, Black?" she demanded, storming over to him. "You're _so_ smart. You know _so much_ about us Slytherins, don't you? Because we all just like to sit around in the dungeons coming up with methods of torturing blood-traitors and Mudbloods all day, and we're all the best of friends, and we all just sit around and bask in our glory and soak up each other's awesomeness. Is that what you think? _Is it_? Then tell me why Rosier and his friends chased me halfway across the grounds tonight. Tell me why Geoff had to bash in Rosier's face with a club just to get them to let me alone. Tell me why I'm terrified to go to sleep in my own dormitory."

"Well, that's your own fault for pissing them off," Sirius said.

The sound of the Fat Lady's portrait swinging shut silenced them all for a moment. Lily climbed through the portrait hall and took a quick look at the five angry faces looking back at her before asking, "What's going on here? And why is she here?" she added, looking at Emilie.

"It's here because Sir Geoffrey Mansfield, Knight in Shining Armor Extraordinaire rescued it from the big bad Slytherins," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "But if you ask me, it was all just a ploy so it could get in here and rifle through your stuff."

"Sirius, what are you talking about?"

"Someone's been in our room, Lily," Mariah said. "Our stuff is spread out everywhere; it's a mess..."

"Is anything missing?" When Mariah gave a hapless shrug, Lily crossed to her and the two girls made their way up to the dormitory to take a quick inventory.

"So, Geoff, did you really bash in Rosier's face with a club?" James asked, eyebrows raised.

Geoff nodded. "Yeah. And I think I cracked a couple of Avery's ribs and broke your brother's collarbone, Sirius."

Sirius smirked, pleased for the first time that evening. "Nice one."

"Blows a hole in your 'safety in numbers' philosophy, though, doesn't it?" he went on. "I mean, one of me against three of them."

"My brother hardly counts as a person," Sirius said, waving a dismissive hand. "Besides, it's still better to stay in groups. I mean, you know _they_ will, and you don't want to be outnumbered. I can't believe this one's brave enough to venture into enemy territory on its own."

"Sirius, she _is_ actually a person, she _can_ hear you, she _didn't_ let anyone in to raid the girls' dormitory, and she _is_ staying here tonight, whether you like it or not."

Sirius snorted and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right. Prongs agrees with me, right?" he asked, looking at James. "It isn't staying here."

"She's staying," Geoff said firmly. "I'll break every bone in your body if I have to, but she's staying. I'm not going to let her go back to her own House and be ripped apart."

Sirius looked back at James beseechingly.

"Padfoot, just let it go. It's one night. It's not unreasonable."

Sirius rounded on Geoff again. "You're just as bad as that _cunt_!" he said, gesturing violently at the girls' dormitories. "You think you can trust them just because they're up for a bit of snogging, but you _can't_. They're like Sirens - they lure you in and then they go for the kill. Since everyone seems to be turned against me-" He threw James a scathing look. "-I _guess_ it can stay. But I am _not_ staying in the same room as it. I'll sleep on the couch if I have to. And don't get any ideas," he added to Emilie. "Don't be thinking you're going to bring your little friends like that Lovell guy up here-"

"You know, some of us do actually _care_ about our friends," she said. "Not all of us are the bloodsucking flesheaters you think we are. Kurt genuinely cares about Mariah, and Sev-"

"Don't talk to me, Death Eater. Especially about Snivellus or the traitorous whore's Ickle Kurtsykins." He turned away in time to see Mariah and Lily coming back down the stairs and snapped, "Well? Anything missing?"

"_Hellion Hexes_," Lily said.

Emilie snorted. "You guys had _Hellion Hexes_?"

"You're a Death Eater," Sirius said, turning back to Emilie and ignoring her resigned sigh. "You must know what the Slytherins want it. Is there some secret code in it? Is there an enchanted page that has secret missions from Voldemort on it?"

"It's just a porn rag," she said, shrugging.

"So why's _he_ in it?" he demanded, thrusting out a finger to point at Geoff.

"Well, evidently someone would rather whomp their willow to a picture of him than to a picture of Tabitha or Valentina."

Sirius gave her a look as though he was suddenly seeing her in a new light. "How do you know the models' names?"

"Valentina was Rosier's favorite. He was always telling Avery what sort of naughty things her picture would do for him. Sometimes she'd go to another page and get her friend Tabitha, and the two of them would put on a little show."

"What? They never did that for _me_-"

"That still doesn't explain why Geoff and Mariah were on a centerfold," James interjected.

"They were both on a _centerfold_?"

"Not together," Mariah said quickly. "The picture changed."

"Is it like a hit list or something?" Sirius asked eagerly. "Like, is whoever on the centerfold going to get attacked?"

She shifted uncomfortably. "Well, Evan would talk about 'tonight's target,' but I always thought he just meant targets for... well, you know." She pumped her hand up and down at waist level several times.

"Oh, we know what you mean," Sirius assured her. "But _sick_," he added looking to James. "_Rosier_. And he likes Valentina! Valentina was always _mine_."

The portrait swung open again, the Fat Lady complaining loudly in the corridor, and Peter Pettigrew stumbled in looking the worse for wear. His wide-eyed gaze passed once across the common room, and then he collapsed into an armchair.

"Where've you been, Wormtail?" James asked.

Peter mumbled something under his breath, of which the only coherent word was "Slytherins."

"See?" Sirius said. "Slytherins did this to him! And you want us to think they're harmless?"

"They can't have done it," Geoff said. "Rosier and his friends weren't in any condition to beat anyone up. I saw them go back into the castle myself."

"I never saw Rosier," Peter mumbled, inspecting a gash on one of his arms. "It was Snape and Lovell."

"It couldn't have been them," Mariah said. "Kurt couldn't have done it. He was with me up until just a few minutes ago."

"And what were you doing?" James asked. "Fucking him?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Prongs," Sirius said, folding his arms across his chest. "You don't fuck Slytherins; Slytherins fuck _you_."

"Kurt couldn't have done it," Mariah repeated.

Sirius opened his mouth to respond, but James cut across him. "Let's say Kurt _didn't_ do it," he said, "just for the sake of argument. That still leaves Snape. Got anything to say in his defense?" he asked, glancing over at Emilie.

"Last time I saw him was when he pulled Mulciber away from the others," she said. "That was before they attacked me."

"Right, so it sounds like it's Snape and Mulciber, not Snape and Lovell. Is everyone happy with those accusations?" James looked around at the others expectantly; Emilie frowned, but no one made any verbal disapproval. "Excellent. Now let's all just go to bed, and we'll figure out how to deal with all of this in the morning. Fair enough?"

There was a general murmur of assent, peppered with disapproving noises from Sirius as he settled himself on the sofa in front of the empty fireplace.

"And just because I'm sleeping down here does not mean that thing can sleep in my bed," he called up after Geoff as he and Emilie headed up the staircase, Peter several steps ahead of them.


	34. In the Tower, 1994

**June 6, 1994**

The doors to the Hospital Wing burst open and Snape entered, closely followed by Dumbledore and five stretchers. Madam Pomfrey screamed.

"What in blazes-" She waved her wand and the sheets on the five nearest beds folded themselves down. "Nurse Jaeger! Quickly! Oh Potter again?" Madam Pomfrey waved her wand, and Harry's body levitated off of the stretcher, floating to the first bed and settling down beneath the sheets as gently as a feather. She looked over the other stretchers as Mariah came running up from the storeroom, carrying a water jug and a few linen towels. "Oh! Weasley and Granger, too? And Professor Mansfield? And who... but..."

"We'll just be needing four beds, I think," said Snape, his lip curling. "I think notorious mass-murderer Sirius Black will require more security."

The water jug Mariah had been carrying crashed to the floor. As all eyes fell on her, she pulled out her wand and repaired the jug.

"_Aguamenti_," she muttered, refilling it from her wand and placing it on Harry's bedside table.

"You caught him, then?" breathed Madam Pomfrey, looking up at Snape as she levitated Hermione's body into the second bed.

"I did indeed," said Snape. "He'd bewitched Potter, Weasley and Granger into attacking me, and had already done his work on Mansfield and Lupin when I'd arrived."

"But you're bleeding, Professor, do you need attention?" asked Madam Pomfrey. "Mariah-"

"There's no need. We've got to be seeing to Black before he wakes up," said Snape, levitating Sirius's stretcher towards the door. "The Minister will be arriving at any moment, and it won't be long until the Dementors are brought up to take care of him."

"After I have questioned him," said Dumbledore then, speaking for the first time since entering. Snape scowled, but nodded. Dumbledore looked at Mariah. "Nurse Jaeger, as Poppy needs to attend to these four, would you accompany us to see to Black's injuries."

"Headmaster, is that really wise?" muttered Snape, but Dumbledore shook his head.

"We can't leave him in the Hospital Wing, and Poppy needs to attend to our students," he said firmly. Mariah glanced at Madam Pomfrey, who sighed in exasperation.

"I can manage fine on my own," she said finally, nodding.

Mariah continued to stare at her with wide eyes, but Dumbledore said, "Thank you most ardently, Poppy. Nurse Jaeger?" and she reluctantly followed Snape, Dumbledore, and the stretcher carrying Sirius from the Hospital Wing.

Professor Flitwick had finished charming his office into a temporary holding cell by the time they reached it, and stepped aside as they entered. Dumbledore lowered Sirius Black's stretcher onto the floor, and Mariah knelt next to it, pulling out her wand. The bonds around him vanished.

"_What_ do you think you're doing?" hissed Snape. Mariah glared at him.

"I can't examine him when he's all tied up, Snape."

"Headmaster, might I insist that-"

"No, Severus, you may not," said Dumbledore. He glanced down at his watch. "The Minister should be arriving shortly, would you be so kind as to go down to greet them?"

Snape looked from Dumbledore to Black as though he thought his prize might be snatched from him at any moment, but a second later turned on the spot and exited the office with a swish of his long robes. Dumbledore closed the door and waved his wand over the lock before taking a seat and gesturing to Mariah.

"Won't you revive him, Nurse Jaeger? I would like to question him thoroughly before we are interrupted again."

Mariah pulled out her wand and held it over Sirius's sunken face, muttering, "_Ennervate_." Sirius's dark-lidded eyes flew open, and he sat up so fast that the top of his head collided with Mariah's nose.

"Where are they!?" He looked around wildly. "Where's he gone!?" Mariah struggled to hold him down, her nose streaming.

"The dementors are gone," said Dumbledore in a stern voice that Mariah had never heard from him. "But I'm afraid, Mr. Black, that Harry is far from your grasp, now."

"What?" Sirius was breathing hard.

"We do not have much time together, Mr. Black," continued Dumbledore," and I would like to hear exactly what you have to say for yourself before Cornelius Fudge arrives to administer your punishment. Now, you were found by Professor Snape with three of my students, bewitched as he says, Professor Mansfield, who is now unconscious in the Hospital Wing from a spell Professor Snape claims you fired, and Professor Lupin, who is now fully transformed and in the Forbidden Forest. I would like to ask you how this came to pass, and what intentions you had in persistently attempting to attack my students."

"I... I wasn't attacking the students," said Sirius. "Peter Pettigrew is alive, Dumbledore, I saw him, they all saw him!"

"Peter Pettigrew, as all of us know well, was murdered by you following your betrayal of Lily and James Potter," said Dumbledore shortly.

"All of us..." repeated Sirius, looking from Dumbledore to the bleeding nurse holding him down. His eyes widened. Mariah felt him slacken, and she released her grip enough to grab her wand and quickly fix her nose, feeling the tang of the blood leave her sinuses. Sirius shook his head. "I never betrayed Lily and James. Never. I'd have died before I betrayed them." He gulped. "I thought that Peter would be a better secret-keeper. I thought they'd never go after him. I was wrong...in more ways than one. He was working for them the whole time."

"There were witnesses," said Dumbledore.

"James, Peter, and I are unregistered Animagi," said Sirius quickly. "We did it when we were still in school, to help Remus. I become a dog, James became a stag, and Peter...Pettigrew is a rat. I saw him in a newspaper clipping in Azkaban. He cut off his finger just before he blew the street apart and transformed. The rat in the paper had a toe missing, and I found out he belonged to a close friend of Harry's. I was framed, Professor, I had to break out to kill him before he could kill Harry. I transformed into a dog and slipped out of Azkaban. The dementors had no idea. Please, _believe_ me." He looked around wildly, his eyes landing on Mariah. "_Please_."

Dumbledore was regarding Sirius carefully.

"Show me," he said. Sirius's wide eyes turned back to Dumbledore, and the next moment his body had shrunken and vanished beneath a thick coat of black fur, and a large black dog sat where Sirius had been. Another moment, and he was back. Dumbledore hesitated, and then said, "I want you to tell me exactly what happened that night."

Mariah could barely believe what she was hearing. She could see Sirius's earnestness with every word, could see no trace of a lie in his face, but it all sounded so impossible, so coincidental. Their last-minute switch to protect Lily and James, Sirius realizing Peter's betrayal, hunting him down. Peter screaming that Sirius had betrayed his friends, before cutting off his own finger and transforming into a rat. She had never known that about them in all her time of knowing them at school and after. And yet, in his words, she saw the Sirius she used to know, who loved James like a brother. It was unbelievable, and yet it was more believable. In fact she couldn't believe now that she had ever thought Sirius could possibly turn on James. She blinked, and it was though a heavy veil was being lifted from her memory. All that time, thinking he was a murderer. When had he ever been a murderer?

Dumbledore's eyes were wider as Sirius finished his tale, and he was regarding Sirius with an expression much softer than the one he had previously held.

"Then both times you attempted to breach Gryffindor Tower..."

"It was always the rat, Pettigrew, I swear, not Harry, never Harry," said Sirius.

"Who else knows that you three are Animagi?" asked Dumbledore, glancing at Mariah.

"No one. No one besides Remus... and Lily." Sirius broke off. "Harry and his friends do now, though." His head rose. "Snape knows. He heard everything we said."

"Somehow, I don't think it would be wisest to rely on Professor Snape's eyewitness account to save you," said Dumbledore. "Was he unconscious already when Pettigrew was revealed?"

"Yes," said Sirius. "Harry and his friends knocked him out."

"So they did attack him?" asked Dumbledore. Sirius shrugged.

"It looked like they had enough of a reason to without my input, and I wouldn't blame them anyway."

Dumbledore began to walk around the room, his arms behind his back. He glanced at the window, then at Sirius.

"Mr. Black, I will not lie to you, there is nothing I can do to save you without the proper proof, and as the Minister is on his way upstairs as we speak, there will not be enough time to acquire anything that will support your story," he said. Mariah felt Sirius collapse beneath her hands, and he laid flat on the ground, his hands going to his face.

"You've got to, Dumbledore. I'm _innocent_, I swear, I always have been innocent. Please, please don't send me back-"

"I'm afraid you won't be going anywhere. The Minister has given the order that you are to be administered the dementor's kiss on sight," said Dumbledore. Sirius went pale. Mariah felt the stunned numbness she had been feeling ever since she had seen Sirius on the stretcher disappear slowly under the distinct feeling of something shattering throughout her insides. "But," continued Dumbledore staring at Sirius closely, "I do believe you."

Sirius sat up, and something in his face lifted the shadows from his eyes.

"You believe me," he repeated in a hoarse voice. Dumbledore nodded, his eyes moving slowly to Mariah, whose mouth was hanging open.

"Nurse Jaeger, if you would attend to Mr. Black's injuries, I have further business downstairs."

"Oh, yes, where-" started Mariah, but Sirius was rolling up one sleeve where there was a deep cut on his arm. Mariah waved her wand and several bottles appeared in midair, along with one block of chocolate that she handed to Sirius, who ate it with his free hand. Mariah uncorked a small round bottle and poured a good amount onto Sirius's gash, sealing the skin over. She quickly felt along his arms and legs for broken bones, feeling his eyes on her as she worked.

She healed a few more cuts before standing and nodding to Dumbledore, who made his way towards the door.

"I will be back in half an hour," he said to Sirius, looking around. "The Minister will be with me, along with the Head of Investigations. I can't promise that they will want to question you." He raised his head. "But I will do everything in my power to see to it that you get what you deserve."

Dumbledore left the room. Mariah and Sirius looked at each other for a long time before she, too, moved towards the door. She stopped with her hand on the doorknob.

"I believe you, too," she said shortly, then left the room without looking at him again.

There was a large argument going on in the Hospital Wing when they arrived, and they entered to see Snape standing with the Minister, and on the Minister's other side, the Head of Investigations. The three of them turned as they entered, the Head of Investigations cocking an eyebrow as his eyes met Mariah's, but Harry, who was sitting straight up in bed, interjected before they could speak.

"Professor Dumbledore, Sirius Black —"

"For heaven's sake!" said Madam Pomfrey shrilly. Mariah guessed that this talk had not only just started. "Is this a hospital wing or not? Headmaster, I must insist —"

"My apologies, Poppy, but I need a word with Mr. Potter and Miss Granger," said Dumbledore calmly. "I have just been talking to Sirius Black —"

"I suppose he's told you the same fairy tale he's planted in Potter's mind?" spat Snape. "Something about a rat, and Pettigrew being alive —"

"That, indeed, is Black's story," said Dumbledore.

"And does my evidence count for nothing?" snarled Snape. "Peter Pettigrew was not in the Shrieking Shack, nor did I see any sign of him on the grounds."

"That was because you were knocked out, Professor!" said Hermione earnestly. "You didn't arrive in time to hear —"

"Miss Granger, HOLD YOUR TONGUE!"

"Now, Snape," said Fudge, startled, "the young lady is disturbed in her mind, we must make allowances —"

"I would like to speak to Harry and Hermione alone," said Dumbledore abruptly. "Cornelius, Severus, Poppy — please leave us."

"Headmaster!" sputtered Madam Pomfrey "They need treatment, they need rest —"

"This cannot wait," said Dumbledore. "I must insist."

Madam Pomfrey pursed her lips and strode away into her office at the end of the ward, slamming the door behind her. Fudge consulted the large gold pocket watch dangling from his waistcoat.

"The dementors should have arrived by now," he said. "I'll go and meet them. Dumbledore, I'll see you upstairs. Lovell, if you'll come with me."

He and the Head of Investigations crossed to the door and held it open for Snape, but Snape hadn't moved.

"You surely don't believe a word of Black's story?" Snape whispered, his eyes fixed on Dumbledore's face.

"I wish to speak to Harry and Hermione alone," Dumbledore repeated.

Snape took a step toward Dumbledore.

"Sirius Black showed he was capable of murder at the age of sixteen," he breathed. "You haven't forgotten that, Headmaster? You haven't forgotten that he once tried to kill me?"

"My memory is as good as it ever was, Severus," said Dumbledore quietly.

Snape turned on his heel and marched through the door Fudge was still holding. Dumbledore looked at Mariah, then nodded towards the door. Mariah turned and exited without further question. She closed the door behind her and walked to the end of the corridor. She turned the corner but stopped to see Kurt standing there, waiting for her.

"You know, I was thoroughly surprised to get this call," he said, walking towards her. "I was sure that if Black turned up at Hogwarts, my alarm bells would have gone off the minute you knew he was close by."

"I only just saw him," said Mariah stiffly. "And that was to do my job. You can't fault me for that."

"No, I can't," agreed Kurt. He pulled out a scroll of parchment from within his robes. "I guess I won't be needing this anymore," he said, holding it out over one of the torches that lit the hall. The scroll caught fire immediately and he dropped it into the flame to be devoured. Mariah eyed him stonily.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"I want us to be friends," said Kurt, walking towards her. "I don't see why we can't just put the past behind us, now that loose ends are taken care of and everything is as it should be.

"Sirius is innocent, Mr. Lovell, nothing is as it should be," said Mariah. "If you just asked him-"

"I don't see any reason to," said Kurt sharply. "This investigation is closed. Besides, I'm sure Fudge and Severus won't want to drag this out, not after all the trouble he's put us to."

"You can stop this," said Mariah, her stony attitude faltering. Kurt was smirking at her. Mariah stared at him. "What do you want from me."

"Only loyalty," said Kurt. "A kind of employment. You see, the Ministry does encounter certain roadblocks from time to time as far as Professor Dumbledore is concerned, and it would be in the best interest of the Minister to have someone to offer him ways to a solution to these problems. I know for a fact that he plans to keep you on, as well as a certain number of extended staff, for next year. You would be paid for your work, of course, and would be eligible for full benefits. Of course," he added, raising an eyebrow, "there could be extended benefits as well. My name opens a lot of doors, and... I wouldn't be opposed to giving you a little extra push in your endeavors... however I may require my own price." Mariah raised her eyebrows.

"How's Evaleen?" she asked lightly. Some of Kurt's amusement became rather fixed on his face.

"Don't be smart," he said. "If you really think he's innocent, do you think I'd believe for one minute that you'd just sit back and let him lose what little he has left to his life up there? It's now or never, Mariah, better be quick about your choices."

Mariah's heart was thumping hard in her ribcage. Suddenly, however, they could hear shouting echoing from the staircase.

"He must have Disapparated, Severus. We should have left somebody in the room with him. When this gets out —"

"HE DIDN'T DISAPPARATE!" Snape roared, now very close at hand. "YOU CAN'T APPARATE OR DISAPPARATE INSIDE THIS CASTLE! THIS — HAS — SOMETHING — TO — DO — WITH — POTTER!"

Snape, Dumbledore, and Fudge rounded the corner. Snape looked more furious than Mariah had ever seen him. Kurt walked quickly to head them off.

"What's happened?" he asked Fudge, as Snape was fairly unreachable in his rage. Dumbledore glanced at Mariah and she walked alongside him back towards the Hospital Wing.

"Black's escaped somehow. Severus — be reasonable — Harry has been locked up —"

Snape pushed through the Hospital Wing doors with a loud slam, and the group of them entered, Snape marching straight for Harry's bed.

"OUT WITH IT, POTTER!" he bellowed. "WHAT DID YOU DO?"

"Professor Snape!" shrieked Madam Pomfrey. "Control yourself!"

"See here, Snape, be reasonable," said Fudge. "This door's been locked, we just saw —"

"THEY HELPED HIM ESCAPE, I KNOW IT!" Snape howled, pointing at Harry and Hermione.

"Calm down, man!" Fudge barked. "You're talking nonsense!"

"YOU DON'T KNOW POTTER!" shrieked Snape. "HE DID IT, I KNOW HE DID IT —"

"That will do, Severus," said Dumbledore quietly. "Think about what you are saying. This door has been locked since I left the ward ten minutes ago. Madam Pomfrey, have these students left their beds?"

"Of course not!" said Madam Pomfrey, bristling. "I would have heard them!"

"Well, there you have it, Severus," said Dumbledore calmly. "Unless you are suggesting that Harry and Hermione are able to be in two places at once, I'm afraid I don't see any point in troubling them further."

Snape stood there, seething, staring from Fudge, who looked thoroughly shocked at his behavior, to Dumbledore, whose eyes were twinkling behind his glasses. Snape whirled about, robes swishing behind him, and stormed out of the ward.

"Fellow seems quite unbalanced," said Fudge, staring after him. "I'd watch out for him if I were you, Dumbledore."

"Oh, he's not unbalanced," said Dumbledore quietly. "He's just suffered a severe disappointment."

"He's not the only one!" puffed Fudge. "The _Daily Prophet_'s going to have a field day! We had Black cornered and he slipped through our fingers yet again! All it needs now is for the story of that hippogriff 's escape to get out, and I'll be a laughingstock! Well...I'd better go and notify the Ministry... Lovell, as unsavory as it is, you've got to write up a report." Kurt no longer looked amused, but his face was not twisting as awfully as Snape's had done. He glanced around at Mariah, who looked away, trying not to smile.

"And the dementors?" said Dumbledore. "They'll be removed from the school, I trust?"

"Oh yes, they'll have to go," said Fudge, running his fingers distractedly through his hair. "Never dreamed they'd attempt to administer the Kiss on an innocent boy... Completely out of control... no, I'll have them packed off back to Azkaban tonight... Perhaps we should think about dragons at the school entrance..."

"Hagrid would like that," said Dumbledore, smiling at Harry and Hermione. As he, Fudge, and Kurt left the dormitory, Madam Pomfrey hurried to the door and locked it.

"_Outrageous_," Mariah heard her hissing under her breath. She pointed at Mariah. "Nurse Jaeger, please tend to Professor Mansfield, won't you."

"Yes, Poppy," said Mariah, walking to Geoff's bed. She examined the large bump on Geoff's head, but noticed that Harry and Hermione were beaming at each other through their mouthfuls of chocolate. "You two are certainly asking a lot of questions about Black's escape," she said loudly. Harry and Hermione glanced at her, but did not speak. Harry shrugged, but couldn't fight a smile. Mariah looked from one to the other. "Dumbledore had a word with you, did he?"

"Yeah, he did," said Harry, swallowing his chocolate. Mariah raised her eyebrows once, settling Geoff in his bed. He would come around soon. She started back towards the storeroom, but stopped at the foot of Harry and Hermione's beds.

"Thank you," she said, before turning and making her way across the ward, feeling lighter than she had in years, as though a great weight had been lifted from her heart.


	35. In the Light of the Night

**Late November, 1977**

Mariah lay awake in bed far into the night, unable to sleep. They'd cleaned the room as best they could, Mariah tossing all of her books and clothes back into her trunk, but the feeling was still there - insecurity. She sat up, looking around for a moment, and with a sigh got out of bed.

"Mariah, where are you going?" Mariah looked around to see Lily sitting up as well. She pulled on her school robe over her pajamas.

"I can't sleep," she said. "I was going down..."

"Hang on, I'll come with you," said Lily, pulling on her robe and fetching her slippers as well. The two of them descended into the common room, where the only light came from the fireplaces, and even that was dim. Lily shivered. "Weird, isn't it... knowing someone's been in your stuff..."

"Weird," agreed Mariah. As they passed a couch, a loud snore made both of them jump. Sirius lay sprawled across a couch, one arm hanging off the armrest, the other dragging the floor on the side."Oh no, I forgot he was sleeping in here..." said Mariah, biting her lip. Lily cocked her head to the side, looking at him.

"He's completely out, don't worry about it," she said. "Come on."

The two of them pulled up armchairs closer to the glowing embers of the fire and sat in silence, staring into it. Mariah looked at Lily after a moment. Lily looked back, smiling.

"I feel like I haven't seen you all year," she said.

"Yeah... you and James have been together most of the time," said Mariah, pulling up her legs and crossing them.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be, I understand."

"How is Kurt? I've never heard you really talk about him much," said Lily. Mariah looked up.

"Oh he's wonderful," she said, smiling softly. "He really is. He makes me laugh a lot."

"He really seems nice," agreed Lily. She leaned in. "Have you..." Mariah nodded.

"Last night."

"No! That's where you ran off to?"

"Yeah." Mariah was grinning despite herself. "I really like him..."

Sirius snored loudly and they looked around for a moment, but turned back when they saw he'd returned to peaceful breathing.

"So this isn't like what you had for Sirius all that time?" asked Lily. Mariah shook her head.

"No, no, Sirius was just a crush."

"So you're completely over him now," said Lily, looking at her. Mariah paused for a moment, looking into the fireplace pensively.

"Yeah, I really think I am," she said finally. "In any case, I can't like him the same way again. Not with all the things he's said and done since I said I was interested in somebody else..."

"Mariah, you know... he liked you, too..." said Lily after a moment's silence.

"Yeah, I know," said Mariah, sighing. "But he's just... too stubborn. I mean he never tried to make a move."

"He did ask you to Slughorn's party," pointed out Lily.

"Yes, but he was too late," said Mariah. "He waited until someone else liked me, and that was the sort of 'okay' to him that I was up for grabs, I suppose."

"Come on, Mariah, that's not-"

"He doesn't hesitate with all those other girls," said Mariah. "They're all more... open, and he just flits through them like it's nothing."

"So why are you upset, when he actually approached you with decency?" Lily raised an eyebrow at Mariah, who frowned. Lily went on. "He doesn't mean to treat you like this. He's just frustrated that you've chosen a Slytherin you barely know over him."

"Yeah, I've heard that," said Mariah. "Emilie's going to have a rough time."

"Emilie doesn't have to see Sirius as much as you've had to. She might have to put up with her friends in her own House, but it's Geoff I'd be more worried about," said Lily. "I really am sorry for the way he's treated you. But you know how proud he is..."

"Oh... I dunno, Lily." Mariah ran a hand through her hair, leaning back with a sigh of exasperation. "It's a great big mess, isn't it? If I choose Sirius over Kurt, he would just treat me like Gwenog, like a prop, and be a prick. But if I stay with Kurt, I'll be basically forced out of Gryffindor like I have been. Do you know, James won't even defend me anymore. He sides with Sirius on everything."

"You can't expect friends like them to break up because of a girl," said Lily. "It's not in their nature. I've talked to James, and we both think Sirius is being unreasonable, but he'll stay with Sirius. I don't think he likes how secretive you're being about it either, like you're double-dealing."

"I don't have much of a choice, do I? I'm being made the enemy no matter how hard I try to defend myself. You don't think I'm double-dealing, do you?"

"No, I don't," said Lily looking at Mariah. "I've known you long enough to know that you wouldn't allow yourself to be seduced by someone you just met. And with the way you've been resisting Sirius all this time, I can't see why no one else believes that, too. Besides... Kurt sounds like a decent guy." She paused. "Has he told you that he fought with Sirius the other day?"

"No," said Mariah. "I heard it from Remus a few days ago. He said he melted Sirius's face off."

"Kurt hasn't said anything?"

"Not a word."

Lily regarded Mariah's face with concern. "What's the matter?"

"I didn't want him to know." said Mariah. "I didn't want them fighting."

"If you ask me..." said Lily testily, "I think he really cares about you a lot."

"Yeah... he does..."

"Sirius, too. He worries..."

"Yeah..." Mariah stared into the fire, lost in thought. Lily slowly got up.

"I think I'm going to go back."

"Right. I'm going to stay here a bit longer, I think," said Mariah, looking at her. The girl nodded, walking back to the dormitories and climbing the staircase. After a long time, Mariah stood up, walking silently to the couch where Sirius lay sleeping. She stared down at him for a moment, then leaned down close and rested her lips lightly against the corner of his mouth, kissing him softly. She straightened, still watching him, and turned suddenly, walking back to the dorms after Lily.

It was a long time before she got back to sleep. Back in the common room, another restless soul lay awake staring into the dark.


	36. The Order of the Phoenix

Geoffrey awoke the next morning to find Emilie curled up beside him, her breathing still slow and regular, her legs tangled with his. The bruise on her cheek, partially concealed by her dark hair, was still a deep purple, though around the edges it had already begun to fade to a greenish yellow. Blood from the cut on her arm had begun to soak through the bandages. He brushed her hair away from her face and kissed her lightly. She stirred and a faint smile crept onto her face, but she did not wake.

Disentangling himself from her, Geoff got out of bed and quickly pulled on a fresh set of robes before heading down to the common room. He dropped himself down on the end of Sirius's sofa. The movement of the couch under his weight was enough to make the darker haired boy crack open one eye and give him a baleful look.

"How's the couch?" Geoff asked, patting the armrest of the sofa. "Comfortable?"

"Not hardly." Sirius sat up, rubbing at his face in an effort to wake himself up. "No need to ask how yours was. It must have been awful with that snake in your bed."

"Oh, yeah, it was absolutely dreadful," Geoff said, rolling his eyes.

"What was absolutely dreadful?" James asked, descending the stairs into the common room, yawning.

"Your mum," Sirius said. He paused for a moment to yawn, and then went on, "Actually, Geoff here was just telling me about how poorly he slept last night with that snake between his sheets."

"Padfoot, lay off a bit," James said, pushing Sirius's legs off the couch to make room for himself. "I don't like her being here, either, but if Geoff's going to vouch for her, then that's fine with me. If she _does_ turn out to be a Death Eater that's been spying on us, then Geoff gets full weight of the blame and will bear the consequences of her actions."

Sirius considered this for a moment. "And what would those consequences _be_, exactly?"

"Use your imagination," James said. He waited until a malicious grin had spread across his friend's face before turning back to Geoff. "_However_, if you decide to dump her now, we won't hold you responsible for her. But that only works if you do it now."

"No," Geoff said. "Absolutely not. I'm not going to dump Emilie just because you two don't trust her. I can't believe you'd even suggest that."

"Hey, mate, just trying to look out for you," James said, shrugging. "Just don't want you to get in over your head, that's all."

"I'm _fine_," he said, rolling his eyes. "She's fine. We're all fine. She's not a Death Eater. Even if she were, what has she done _specifically_ that gives you any reason not to trust her?"

Sirius and James looked at each other for a moment in silence. As Geoff leaned back against the couch with a smug look on his face, Sirius burst out, "That doesn't change the fact that she's a Death Eater!"

"You're not talking about me, are you?" Emilie asked, appearing at the foot of the staircase. She crossed the room and settled herself on the armrest of the couch. She looked down at her arm. "I think I may need to go to the hospital wing..."

"Good, it'll get you out of our tower," Sirius said.

Geoff opened his mouth to say something, but Lily had appeared in the common room with Mariah right beside her, a bag full of books over one shoulder.

"Don't you guys _ever_ go to class?" Lily asked. "We're going to be late for Transfiguration if you lot don't hurry up."

Geoff and Emilie stood, and they followed Lily and Mariah out of the portrait hole. They parted ways, Emilie heading toward the hospital wing, but the rest of the group trooped down to the third floor. By the time they reached the transfiguration classroom, class had already begun. McGonagall was standing at the front of the room with an iguana in her hands.

"Mansfield," she barked, "what are you doing here?"

"Err - I'm here for class, professor."

"The Headmaster asked to see you in his office. You, too, Miss Jaeger," she added as the others began to slink off to their seats. "Go on, don't keep him waiting all day."

Geoff and Mariah hurried out of the classroom and up to the seventh floor, stopping in front of the gargoyle that guarded the headmaster's office.

"Geoff, listen, I'm really sorry about the potions," Mariah said. "I wasn't with Remus last night when he went to take his, and he must have just taken the wrong one... If I had known that would have happened I wouldn't have had him go on his own."

"Don't worry about it," he said gruffly. "I mean, it wasn't really all that important."

"Seemed pretty important last night. What were you going to use it for, anyway?"

"I was going to find out who in Slytherin was really a Death Eater," he said. "I thought it might have gotten Sirius to lay off some."

"You wanted to know who you could blame for killing your parents."

He shrugged. "I guess. I mean, I know none of them killed them. But I guess... yeah, I guess I wanted someone I could blame."

"Are the two of you going to stand there all day or do you need something?"

They both jumped at the gargoyle's question. It was glowering at them darkly, looking irritated.

"Dumbledore sent for us," Geoff said. "But we don't know the password."

"Oh, if that's all. What are your names?"

"Geoffrey Mansfield and Mariah Jaeger."

There was a lengthy pause as the gargoyle seemed to consider this. After several minutes had passed, it stepped aside, allowing them access to the spiral staircase behind it. They climbed the stairs and entered Dumbledore's office to see him sitting behind his desk, a handful of other students seated in chairs of varying sizes seated in front of him. He smiled warmly at them and conjured two more chairs with a wave of his wand. Frank Longbottom and Alice Prewitt were there, along with Edgar Bones and his sister Amelia. Benjamin Fenwick was seated near the back with Marlene McKinnon.

"Now that we're all here," Dumbledore said, setting his wand back down on the desk, "I think it important that you all know _why_ we are here. As I'm sure you're aware, we are living in dark and dangerous times. Several of you have already felt the effects of this war we find ourselves in." He looked pointedly at Geoff and Marlene. "I know it has taken great restraint for some of you not to lash out at those you feel are responsible, and I commend you for having the self-control to keep yourselves from doing anything rash."

Geoff shifted uncomfortably. He wondered if Dumbledore would have called him to this meeting, or whatever it was, if he had been aware of the Polyjuice Potion.

"Now, as Mister Potter seems to be quite jaded in his views, he has failed in the task I gave him. And that is why all of you are here today - because I saw a potential in all of you that Mister Potter did not. I have little doubt that he consulted quite extensively with his friend Mister Black, and I'm sure that had much to do with his choices in candidates."

"Sir, candidates for _what_, exactly?"

Dumbledore smiled at Edgar, his blue eyes twinkling behind his half-moon spectacles. "An organization, Mister Bones, dedicated to combatting Lord Voldemort."

The students all suddenly became more attentive. Marlene McKinnon began whispering feverishly to Benjamin Fenwick.

"Understand this is not something to be taken lightly," Dumbledore continued. "I am not insisting any of you join the Order of the Phoenix if you feel it is not something you wish to take part in. I simply understand the hurt that a great loss can bring, and if you would like to channel that pain into a more... productive outlet, the Order is open to you. But know that if you do choose to join, it is a serious commitment. I have chosen to offer you this opportunity because I feel any one of you would be a valuable addition to the Order."

"What does the Order _do_?" Amelia asked. "Is it associated with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, or-"

"No. The Order of the Phoenix is not affiliated with any department of the Ministry of Magic. While the Ministry does support our position and is doing what it can to suppress the threat of Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters, we feel that the Ministry is too obvious of a target for them. We feel that a smaller, more concentrated organization would be able to utilize more concentrated attacks and be more effective overall."

"But what does the Order actually do?" Amelia pressed. "I mean, the Ministry is fighting Voldemort, too. What makes this different?"

"Reconnaissance work, mainly," Dumbledore said. "Our members trail suspected Death Eaters and monitor their activities. We keep defensive perimeters around points of interest, we have spies that infiltrate Death Eater circles and report back. Our spies know they are putting their lives on the line, but they believe our cause to be a worthy one, as I am sure most of you will, too." He fiddled with one of the delicate silver instruments on his desk for a moment. "The decision to join the Order should not be taken lightly," he said. "When you have made your decision, send your response by owl, but do not include any specifics; a simple 'yes' or 'no' will suffice."

"You don't need to wait on my owl," Geoff said, standing. "I'll join right now."

Dumbledore regarded him for a moment, and then gave him a knowing smile. "Thank you for your enthusiasm, Mister Mansfield. As for the rest of you," he went on as Geoff reseated himself, his smile dropping from his face, "I reemphasize that this decision is not something to be taken lightly. It is a cause to be passionate about, yes, but it is a commitment that could very well cost you your lives if the utmost caution is not taken. This meeting is not to be discussed with anyone; your decision is yours alone to make. The Order of the Phoenix is a very serious, very secret organization. Have I made myself clear to all of you?" He waited until all of them nodded, and then smiled warmly. "Now, then, you are all dismissed back to your classes."

The students stood and filed out of the office, Geoff heading back downstairs to Transfiguration, beginning to wonder what, exactly, he had so eagerly volunteered for.


	37. Evening

"Where were you today?" muttered Kurt, glancing at Mariah as she stirred her Desensitivity Elixer counterclockwise. "You missed Transfiguration."

"Oh, uh..." Mariah hesitated. "I went to see Professor Dumbledore. Someone ransacked our dormitory last night."

"What?" Kurt leaned in. "Did they take anything?"

"Yeah... well, no." She shrugged. "Just a book I'd found."

"Was it an important book?" asked Kurt, frowning.

"No, just a spellbook," said Mariah. "Could I have a Shrivelfig?" She was not sure it would be a wise decision to tell Kurt about the meeting with Dumbledore. He had chosen them from his own judgement, and she wanted to live up to that. It irked her a little that James and Sirius had known, but not asked her. No doubt Lily, Remus and Peter were involved. Then again, Geoff had not been asked to join, either, and that made her feel a little better.

She looked around as Kurt handed her the ingredient, looking back across the classroom to where the Marauders sat. Peter was busy skinning his own Shrivelfig, wincing every time the knife nicked his fingers. Next to him was Remus, who had shown up around lunch looking tired, but happy. On Remus's other side, Sirius was chopping up a hollybush root with intense concentration.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Mariah turned back to him, smiling and taking the Shrivelfig. "Just a bit shaken, but it'll wear off."

"You sure?"

"Yessss, stop worrying," chided Mariah carelessly, quickly skinning the Shrivelfig and tossing it into her cauldron. She stirred it rapidly, pouring in a cup of murtlap essence and setting the stirrer aside.

"Wha... are you _done_?" asked Kurt, staring from her midnight blue-purple potion to his own murky green and frowning. Just then, as if summoned, Slughorn appeared before them, staring down his nose at the two cauldrons.

"Coming along nicely, are we? Let's have a looksee... oh, very nice, Miss Jaeger, very well done indeed. And Mr. Lovell..." Slughorn paused, his smile sinking into disapproval. "Er... might read the instructions around step three a bit more carefully." Kurt immediately looked down at his book, frowning. Mariah smiled and glanced back again. James and Lily were whispering to each other, and Lily caught Mariah's eye, giving her a thumbs up. On her other side, Sirius was still working on his potion without looking up.

"Miss Jaeger-"

"Oh, right." Mariah looked back around, spooning a sample of her potion into a bottle and handing it to Slughorn without another word.

Class ended and Mariah and Kurt left together, passing the Marauders on their left as they walked out of the classroom. Remus caught Mariah's eye and she nodded slowly, making a mental note to talk with him later. They walked out onto the grounds, and after a while, Mariah looked up.

"Where are we going?" she asked. Kurt grinned down at her.

"Well I thought that since we leave soon for the holidays, we should part on a more memorable note..."

He leaned his head over and nipped at her ear playfully. Mariah smiled, but something nagged at her heart even as Kurt's lips met hers in the shadow of the Forbidden Forest and she wrapped her arms around his neck. She closed her eyes and shook off the feeling, pressing herself closer to him in order to drive out the misgivings.

Kurt left her in the Entrance Hall closer to dinner, and Mariah made her way up to Gryffindor Tower alone. She found Remus waiting for her when she entered the common room. He immediately walked over to her as the portrait hole closed behind her and pulled her aside.

"I want to try again," he said quickly. "That potion... I didn't take it properly, but it still cleared my mind enough for me to know what I was doing...to control myself." He looked more genuinely excited than Mariah had ever seen him. She smiled.

"Great, I'll brew you some more over break." They stepped aside as a group of third years passed by, heading down to dinner. James and Sirius appeared at the foot of the steps to the boys' dormitories, walking swiftly towards the portrait hole.

"Dinner, Moony, you coming?" asked Sirius, looking past Mariah at him.

"Yeah, alright." He turned back to Mariah. "Come on."

Mariah glanced at Sirius warily, but he shrugged, following James out. Pausing for a moment, she steadily climbed through after Remus, accompanying them down to the Great Hall.

With the weeks shortening until the holidays, it seemed that the house elves in the kitchens were going out of their way to present a feast each night. Mariah felt her tension leave as she ate and drank and laughed with the others. Peter and Lily had met them shortly after they arrived, having been at the Library, and they quickly joined in the merriment.

"You'd better write me over break!" James laughed at Lily. "None of that silent treatment you were giving me last year!"

"Well it's hard to respond to letters that just say, '_I saw a lawn chair that reminded me of your beautiful eyes today_,'" she replied, rolling her eyes, but smiling.

"You'd better write, too, Mariah," added Remus, "Let us know how things... progress."

"I will, yeah," said Mariah. "Bad news is that our only owl travels with Mum, and he's never there when you need him."

At that moment, a large snowy owl dropped from the ceiling, landing squarely in front of her. Mariah stared at it.

"That's ironic..." She reached out for it, but instead of extending its leg, the owl hopped aside, facing Lily instead. Lily frowned, untying the letter and opening it. She glanced at the signature, and smiled.

"Oh, it's from Petunia!" she said, eyes leaping to the top of the paper. She gasped. "She's getting married!"

"Petunia?" Sirius made a face. "Sounds like a fat girl's name."

"She's her sister," said Mariah flatly.

"She fat?" asked Sirius, looking uninterested.

"No."

"Huh." Sirius shoved a large forkful of bread pudding into his mouth. "Petunia an' Lily. Thoundth like a gimmick." He struggled to speak around his food. "I'd 'ate to 'ave your parenth, Evanth."

"What's wrong?" asked James suddenly, looking at Lily in concern. Her face had gone pale, and her eyes were very glassy.

"She said... she told me to..." She gulped. "She doesn't want me as a bridesmaid. She... she says mum and dad made her invite us and we have to try to act like we're n-normal before the wedding, but..." She put a hand to her mouth. "Excuse me-" Lily got to her feet, walking quickly out of the Great Hall. James quickly grabbed the letter and read it. Cursing, he got to his feet and ran out after her. Mariah took it next, reading quickly.

"That horrible, foul, sneaky little bitch," she muttered, finishing. "Poor Lily..."

"What does she mean her mum and dad are insane to support her being a witch?" asked Remus, reading over her shoulder, "I mean...they're her parents."

"You say that like it's a given that parents are universal supporters," drawled Sirius. He glared at the letter. "If that's what Lily's sister acts like on a normal basis, it's a good thing she's cutting herself off, I think. Lily's too good for that sort of scum."

"It's never good to cut yourself off from your family," said Mariah quietly. Sirius didn't look at her.

"Yeah, well I think it's done wonders for me."

"And the worst part is, you don't even care how they feel."

"Why the _hell_ should I care about how those bleeding murderers feel!?" Sirius exploded, rounding on her. "What makes you think that you have _any_ idea what it's like living with a relative who thinks you're slime!?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," said Mariah calmly, glancing at Sirius. "But I don't think making a grudge out of it would make it any better. Look, whenever someone leaves a family, they're doing more damage than they think. I know how much of a silly little nitwit Lily's sister is because Lily's complained about her often enough, but do you see her crying now? I'll bet you'd feel the same way if you had to leave your family."

"Oh I'm just an open book to you aren't I?" scoffed Sirius. "You think you can understand my life so well. You have no idea what it's like. Your dad's a Muggle. You couldn't possibly understand."

"I understand more than you think, and the rest I can judge from just listening to a moral compass," said Mariah. "Your problem is that you want to play the tragic, battlescarred hero so much that you won't allow there to be another side to the story."

"And _your_ problem is that you refuse to see that some gits in this world are _pure fucking evil_," retorted Sirius.

"What, like Kurt?" asked Mariah flatly.

"That... he..." Sirius looked on the verge of exploding, but he was holding back with what looked like extreme effort. "You... should... just... watch yourself... with him..." he managed finally. "That's all I'm sayin." He quickly grabbed a roll from the center of the table and stuffed it in his mouth, averting his eyes. Mariah and Remus exchanged equally surprised looks.

"I should watch myself," repeated Mariah slowly.

"Yeah. Don't... don't fall for any... bullocks..."

He shoved the rest of the roll in his mouth and stood up, turning and walking out of the Great Hall with his hands in his pockets without a second glance.

Mariah and Remus watched him go, then looked at each other, eyebrows raised.


	38. Homeward Bound

Emilie peered around Geoff into the compartment he had stopped outside, then jerked her hand from his and folded her arms across her chest. He looked around to see her frowning at him.

"No," she said flatly. "Absolutely not."

He dropped his hand from the door's handle. "Emilie, there's nowhere else. All the other compartments are full."

"I don't care. I am _not_ riding all the way back to London in a compartment with with Sirius Black."

"He'll behave himself, I promise." Geoff grabbed hold of her arm with one hand, pulling the compartment door open and drawing her in behind him.

Sirius, still laughing from whatever joke he had made, turned to see who had entered. The grin on his face evaporated instantly. He frowned at Geoff as Emilie seated herself across from him, her arms folded firmly across her chest.

"Be nice," Geoff said as Sirius opened his mouth. "If you behave, so will she."

"_Behave_?" Sirius lept to his feet, groping in his robes pocket for a wand. "Don't you order me around like a dog-"

"Sirius, sit."

Sirius turned, wand raised, to see Remus hadn't bothered to look up from his newspaper. He struggled for a moment, the wand in his fist trembling with rage, and finally dropped himself back onto his seat, thrusting his wand back into his pocket and scowling.

"We can all put up with each other for seven hours, can't we?" Geoff asked, sitting beside Emilie and putting an arm around her shoulders, ignoring the dark frown she shot at him.

"Personally, I'd rather choke down a dozen Cockroach Clusters than be stuck with that in a train compartment for seven hours," Sirius said. "Or maybe chew off my own leg."

"Believe me, the feeling's mutual," Emilie said. She settled back into the seat, looking sullen.

"It's nice heading home to a family that loves you, isn't it, Moony?" Sirius asked, tossing his head to knock his dark hair out of his face.

Remus ignored him and turned another page of his newspaper.

"Not that _I_ would know," Sirius went on, "seeing as my family never loved me. But then, I guess I just wasn't cut out for killing half-bloods and Muggle-borns."

Geoff felt Emilie shift in the seat beside him. "Lay off, Sirius," he said. "We all know how you think. There's no reason to-"

"I didn't say anything about _her_," Sirius interrupted. "I was talking about _my_ family. If she wants to think I'm accusing her parents of being Death Eaters, that's her business. It isn't my fault if she's offended."

"Yes, it _is_ your fault, and-"

"Drop it, Geoff," Emilie said, shaking off his arm and standing. "I'll just find another compartment. It's fine," she added, looking at him as he caught her by the wrist. "_Really_." She left the compartment, making a rude hand gesture back at Sirius through the window before disappearing down the train's corridor.

"Brilliant," Geoff said, shooting another frown at Sirius as he stood to follow Emilie out.

"Excellent. Now we don't have to hear her banshee voice whining any more."

Geoff rolled his eyes, considered mimicking Emilie's hand gesture but thought better of it, and left the compartment without saying anything further. He looked down the corridor after Emilie, but it was empty; she had already disappeared into another compartment. He set off down the corridor, glancing in each compartment he passed. Halfway down the train car, he found her sitting in a compartment obviously complaining to Snape, who didn't seem to be taking much interest in what she was saying, his eyes fixed on the passing countryside. Kurt was seated across from them looking mildly irritated, Mariah curled up at his side, asleep.

He slid open the compartment door and seated himself beside Emilie. She paused in her tirade long enough to see whose hand was on her knee before continuing her rant to Severus.

"Some of us are _trying_ to sleep," Kurt said pointedly from the other side of the compartment, gesturing at Mariah.

Emilie scowled at him, but seemed to have finished her diatribe and fell silent. After a long period of silence, she relaxed and let her head rest on Geoff's shoulder, letting the motion of the train rock her to sleep.

"Sorry about that," Geoff said, looking over at Snape once he was sure Emilie was asleep. "Sirius got her all worked up."

Snape shrugged. "We're used to it," he said.

"Really?"

Kurt nodded. "We've heard about all her problems. The tiniest annoyances are the end of the world, and she never shuts up... She doesn't seem to get that we don't care."

"She can't be _that_ bad _all the time_," Geoff said. "Surely she has some idea what-"

"_She has no idea what she's like_!"

Emilie stirred at Snape's outburst and raised her head to look around the compartment. Seeing they were still moving, she settled her head back onto Geoff's shoulder and quickly fell back asleep.

Snape shook his head and mouthed the words "no idea" at Geoff, then turned to look back out the window of the train.

After several more uneventful hours, the Hogwarts Express finally pulled into King's Cross and the students began disembarking. Snape was the first out of the compartment, Geoff and Emilie following him as Kurt began to rouse Mariah.

The platform was thick with trunks and students shuffling their belongings from the compartments towards the crowds of waiting families.

Kurt helped Mariah off the train, laughing as she stumbled. She rubbed at her bleary eyes and started to get her luggage, but Kurt was there already dragging her trunk towards her. Kurt lugged his own trunk over and set it down.

"Come here, you," he said. Mariah put down the basket and immediately Kurt's hands were pulling her into an embrace. He pressed his lips to hers and she kissed him back. They broke apart after a minute.

"You'll miss me?" asked Mariah.

"I already miss you." Kurt looked around. "Are your parents here?"

"Dad said he'd be late," said Mariah. She looked over his shoulder and saw a man striding towards them. "Um... is that your..." Kurt turned around just as the man reached them. He was at least two inches taller than Kurt, with thick black hair that was combed loosely back from his face. He had immaculately kept facial hair that traced his jaw and lined a mustache over his lip, and he held himself in a way that commanded authority, with his back unusually straight. It made him seem even taller and more dominating. He stopped before them, looking expectant. Kurt smiled.

"You're looking well, Father," he said cheerily. Mr. Lovell gazed at his son flatly, then roved his eyes over Mariah.

"And this is the delightful girl you wrote about?" he asked in a deep, edged voice that Mariah could feel graze her very bones. Unfazed, Kurt tugged on Mariah's hand, bringing her forward.

"This is Mariah Jaeger. She's my girlfriend," he said easily. Mr. Lovell looked her straight in the eye, and she felt a jolt run through her. Unlike Kurt's warm, amber eyes, his fathers were a sharp, transparent-looking gold, and he did not have a smile to lift a light to them.

"I see." Mr. Lovell extended a long-fingered hand, which Mariah took nervously. "Jaeger, you say?"

"Yes... it's very nice to meet you, sir," said Mariah awkwardly. Mr. Lovell did not release her hand.

"As in Roxana Marsaius Jaeger?" Mariah jumped at the name.

"Er... yes. That's my mum."

"Aha... and your father is..."

"He ah..."

"Mariah's father works for Muggle hospitals," Kurt filled in, his voice a little icier than it had been before. Mr. Lovell's lips quirked and he raised an eyebrow at his son, releasing the handshake.

"Five minutes," he said.

"How generous," said Kurt dryly.

"Don't be smart, boy," replied Mr. Lovell, looking around. "I see the Blacks have arrived. It was very interesting to meet you, Miss Jaeger." He glanced back at Mariah once before sweeping away towards a family of sharply-dressed adults who surrounded Regulus Black a ways away. Kurt looked back at Mariah, pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket with his address written on it and pushing it into her hand.

"Promise you'll write me."

"I promise," said Mariah. He kissed her again, but this time she was less enthusiastic about it, as Mr. Lovell was still eyeing them closely from where he stood with Sirius and Regulus's parents. They broke apart and Kurt grinned. "I'll see you."

"See you..." said Mariah. Kurt then picked up his trunk and walked back to his father. The two of them headed back to the end of the platform, disappearing into the crowd. She looked after them for a moment, and then turned to pick up her trunk, but stopped when she saw Sirius staring at her further down the platform as far away from his own family as possible. He looked away immediately and busied himself with his own belongings, standing expectantly by James as he expressed his fervent goodbyes to Lily.

"Mari!"

Mariah turned as she heard her name and saw her father jogging towards her from where Lily's parents stood waiting for their daughter to join them. She threw her arms around him as he reached her, holding him tight.

"Dad! You... how did you find your way in?"

"Oh, don't think that I don't know how to get onto the platform after seven years of this school business of yours," replied her father, looking offended.

"You followed the Evanses, didn't you?" said Mariah. Her father rolled his eyes.

"Well... yes, alright, but that barrier just looks so damn-" He broke off, looking over Mariah's shoulder just as she felt someone tap on it. She turned around and saw Remus standing there, with - to her surprise - Sirius, looking rather uncomfortable.

"Just wanted to say goodbye," said Remus. Mariah smiled, accepting his hug. "Hope to hear from you soon... hopefully some good news." He winked at her as they separated.

"Yeah, I'll send an owl," said Mariah, looking from him to Sirius. He looked reluctant, but Remus pushed him lightly from behind, and he stepped forward, clearing his throat awkwardly.

"Bye, then," he said. Mariah looked at him evenly, and his eyes glanced up to meet hers, as though waiting to see if she would turn her back on him.

"I'll miss you," she said finally. Sirius eyed her, but shrugged.

"I know, your holidays are going to be thoroughly boring without my presence," he said. Mariah's mouth twitched. Her father cleared his throat loudly, and she remembered he was still there.

"Dad, you remember Remus Lupin and Sirius Black," she said, gesturing to each in turn. Her father paused.

"Didn't you two and that boy with glasses fill a compartment with slugs one year?" he asked. The boys grinned sheepishly.

"Yeah, well technically it was another student vomiting them," said Sirius.

Mr. Jaeger laughed at this, and Sirius looked back to Mariah.

"Well... bye."

"Keep in touch, won't you?" said Mariah as he began to turn away. Sirius paused, then nodded, raising his arms awkwardly towards her. Mariah smiled, and they hugged briefly before he and Remus walked off to rejoin the Potters.

"You might have trouble sending letters without an owl," observed Mr. Jaeger, and Mariah turned.

"We can figure something out," she shrugged.

"I suppose." Mr. Jaeger looked around at the trunk. "Ready to go, Mari?"

"Yes." Mariah picked up her trunk, then, and followed her father out of the platform back into the Muggle world where falling snow was beginning to fill the London streets.

Students still on the platform were rushing into the arms of loved ones, and parents were collecting their children before quickly departing. Geoff and Emilie forced their way through the crowd with their trunks to a corner of the platform. Emilie dropped her trunk and climbed onto it, peering over the heads of the crowd, scanning the platform for her parents.

"Emilie, the sooner your parents see you, the sooner you leave."

She looked down at him, a slight frown creasing her features. "I know," she said, "it's just..." Her frown deepened for a moment as she stepped down from the trunk and put her arms around his middle. "My parents won't like you at all. I don't want them to do anything awful."

"What could they do at a train station full of people?" He rolled his eyes as she frowned at him, and grabbed her by the arm. "Emilie," he said flatly, "listen to me. On Halloween I told you I didn't care what Rosier and his gang thought about us being friends, and I'm telling you now I don't care what your parents think."

"_I_ care what my parents think."

He frowned at her, but she jerked her arm away and began busying herself with her trunk. Looking around, he saw a short, blonde woman forcing her way through the crowd.

"Emilie!" she cried upon reaching them, throwing her arms around her daughter in a fierce embrace. "Sweetie, your father and I have missed you so _much_." She released Emilie and held her at arm's length for a moment, beaming at her, before turning to Geoff. "And who is this strapping young man? Where are his parents? Aren't they relieved to see him home safely after everything that's been going on?"

"Mum, this is Geoff," Emilie said. "His parents were killed in a raid."

Mrs. Delacroix tutted and gave him a pitying look. "The poor dear. Well, he _must_ come home with us, then. Maybe a little holiday merriment will cheer him up."

Geoff brightened at this. Emilie's mother was so kind; how could she have possibly thought they wouldn't approve of him? "That would be-"

"Mum, I don't think-"

"Oh, you're right. Your father would never allow it." She gave Geoff another pitying look. "I'm sorry, dear, but Emilie's right. My husband has a strict policy about young men staying the night."

"_Émilie_!"

The girl was again pulled into a fierce hug, this time by a tall man with a thin moustache gracing his upper lip. He said something to her in rapid French, which she seemed to ignore as she turned back to her mother.

"Mum, look, I hate for Geoff to have to go home to an empty house by himself - can I go with him? I can be home first thing in the morning, or later tonight, if you'd rather. I just want to make sure he's all right."

"Such a sweet girl," her mother said, putting a hand on Emilie's cheek. "I don't think that's a good idea, given the circumstances, but if your father approves..." She trailed off and glanced at her husband, who quite obviously did not approve. She gave her daughter an almost apologetic shrug and said, "We'll give the two of you a few minutes to say goodbye. Don't be too long."

Emilie's parents picked up her trunk and turned to walk away, leaving her and Geoff standing alone again.

"Why don't you want me to come home with you?" he asked.

"It's just _not_ a good idea," she said. "Trust me. You wouldn't want to come, anyway. My parents throw this huge Christmas party every year for their friends, which means Rosier and his family will be there, the Blacks will be there, the Averys, the Mulcibers, the Carrows, the Lovells... Just trust me - you don't want to be there."

He sighed and drew her into his arms, knowing he wasn't going to win the argument.

"Write to me," she said, drawing away as her father called for her from across the platform.

"Every day." He leaned forward and gave her a swift kiss before she fully pulled herself out of his embrace and made her way over to her parents. He watched the three of them Disapparate before grabbing hold of his own trunk and doing the same.

He reappeared in the road in front of the house and felt his heart sink as he looked up at it. It was bad enough not having his parents greet him at the train station, but coming home to emptiness was worse. At least he wouldn't have to stay long; the next morning, he'd head to London to the Order of the Phoenix headquarters. He grabbed the end of his trunk and hauled it up the path to the front door, tapping the knob with his wand and entering.

He was surprised to smell the scent of cooking meat wafting through the hallway and to hear the distinct sizzle of sausages frying in a pan. He gently set his trunk down on the floor and was careful to keep the front door from slamming shut behind him as he raised his wand and crept down the hallway toward the kitchen. A floorboard creaked under his foot and he swore mentally.

"Joel? Is that you?"

He relaxed and lowered the wand at the voice; Claire. "No, Claire; it's me, Geoff."

A moment later, the blonde woman's head appeared through the open doorway of the kitchen, smiling at him warmly. "Surprise! Happy Christmas!"

"What are you doing here? Where's Joel?"

"My fool husband is out back messing with the Hippogriff. The thing won't let him within ten feet of it." She rolled her eyes and gestured for him to follow her into the kitchen as she returned to the sausages. "We decided nobody should have to come home to an empty house for the holidays, so we thought we'd drop in and stay with you for a few weeks, if that's all right by you."

"It's great," he said, grinning and dropping himself into one of the chairs at the kitchen table.

"Dumbledore said you volunteered to join the Order," she said, poking at the sausages with a fork. "He's a good man with good intentions, but I really think you're a little young for all that."

"I'm of age," Geoff said. "I can do what I like."

"Yes, you are, and I didn't say you couldn't. I just said I don't think it's right for Dumbledore to be recruiting from the school. You should be worried about your studies, not about fighting someone else's war."

"But it isn't always going to _be_ someone else's war! That's the whole point. It's going to be my war as soon as I'm done with school, so why not start learning to fight now? _Really_ learning to fight, not just learning theories in a classroom," he amended, ignoring the frown she shot him over her shoulder.

"Maybe the war will be over by June," she said, bringing a plate of sausages over to the table. "Maybe you won't have to fight. Here, eat. Don't argue."

Geoff speared a sausage on a fork and took a bite, chewing pensively. No sooner had he swallowed his second bite when Joel stormed in through the doorway, brandishing a bleeding arm. "Look at what that stupid chicken did to me!" he shouted. "Bloody creature nearly killed me!"

"Hush, it isn't that bad," Claire said, catching hold of the arm and inspecting his injury. "And nothing can be worse than that infected Niffler bite you got last month."

"Not that bad? _Not that bad_? Look at this, Claire!" He turned to one side and extended a leg. It had been gashed open just as his arm had and was bleeding profusely. "Fucking thing's a menace! God only knows what was going through Greg's mind when he bought the damn thing. Oh, hello, Geoff."

Claire shoved her husband lightly in the direction of the table and made sure he was seated and had had several mouthfuls of food before striding from the room for bandages.

"Your dad was my best mate," Joel said, waving a sausage at Geoff, "but he was an absolute nutter sometimes, especially when it came to his animals. God rest his soul. Now, you listen to me. Claire might not like it, but Dumbledore knows his shit, and I want you to know that your parents would have been proud of you for joining the Order. Hell, _I'm_ proud of you for joining."

Claire returned and set to tending to Joel's injuries, ignoring him as he swore loudly, patiently taking his arm back into her hands when he jerked it away, complaining the salve she was using stung. After he had tried to swat her away for the fourth time, she gave up, slamming the bandages down on the table. "You can treat your own damn injuries, then, if you're so touchy," she said irritably. "God only knows why I married you."

Joel mouthed the words "love potion" to Geoff and winked, grabbing one of the rolls of gauze and beginning to try, rather unsuccessfully, to wrap his arm in it. He finally gave it up as a bad job and turned to his leg, but soon gave up and set the bandages back on the table, leaning back in his chair, throwing the occasional comment to Claire that if he bled to death, it would be all her fault for not doing her job as a Healer. After nearly twenty minutes of this, she stalked back over to the table, took Geoff's empty plate to the sink, and then set back to work wrapping her husband's arm and leg.

"So how've things been at Hogwarts?" Joel asked. "We haven't heard much from you since we saw you last. I thought we told you to write to us."

Geoff shrugged. "Been busy. Myrtle said to tell you that she still hasn't forgiven you, by the way."

"Myrtle?" Joel furrowed his brow in thought, ignoring the sharp look Claire gave him. "Moaning Myrtle? What hasn't she forgiven me for?"

"For bringing Claire into her bathroom between classes for quickies."

Joel grinned at his wife. "I'd forgotten we used to do that, hon," he said. She swatted his hand away as he reached out to brush her hair away from her face, and he gave her a quick frown before turning back to Geoff. "What about you, though? Have a girl you've been chatting up in Myrtle's toilet?"

Claire rolled her eyes. "Joel, stop it, that's none of our-"

"Oh, just look at him! He has, hasn't he?"

Geoff rubbed at the back of his head, uncomfortable under Joel's eager gaze. "Well, not in Myrtle's bathroom," he said.

"Tell us about her! I'll bet she's a right Gryffindor beauty, knowing you, or maybe an intellectual type from Ravencl-" Joel broke off at the sheepish look on Geoff's face. "Don't tell me she's one of those duffers from Hufflepuff?"

"_Joel_," Claire said. "I'm sure whatever girl Geoff has been talking to is perfectly lovely, whatever House she's in."

"She's in Slytherin."

_"What?_ One of _them_?"

"Joel, sweetheart, calm down," Claire began.

"_Slytherins - are - Death Eaters_!"

"You're just as bad as Sirius," Geoff said, frowning. "She's not a Death Eater."

"Oh, really? What's her name, then?"

"Emilie Delacroix."

Joel considered this for a moment. "Delacroix? Richard and Anne Delacroix are her parents?"

Geoff shrugged.

"They're Death Eaters."

"_Joel_." Claire frowned at him again, sincerely this time. "You don't know anything about this girl. She could be just as sweet as her brother. Let Geoff do what he wants with whomever he wants. As he said earlier, he's plenty old enough to make his own decisions now." She sniffed and stood, crossing briskly to the other side of the kitchen to begin washing dishes. "Now, I suggest we all get some rest. I'm sure Geoff's had a long day."

Joel stood and after saying a short "good night" strode from the kitchen and down the hallway. Geoff waited until he heard the guest room door slam shut before bidding Claire good night and following suit.

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED...**

Hope you all enjoyed it, and thanks for all the wonderful reviews! Keep a lookout for PART TWO, hopefully coming sooner rather than later! - Lafayette


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